


Rising Dawn

by chiptunegalaxy



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Romance, Gen, Handcuffed Together, M/M, Slow Burn, plot heavy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-08-24
Packaged: 2018-07-26 18:04:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7584493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiptunegalaxy/pseuds/chiptunegalaxy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Over a year has passed in the fight against the Galra, and an end still seems so far away. Even with every victory, the empire continues to thrive in pockets throughout the galaxy. Between supply runs and trying to liberate stolen Planets one at a time - the wear and tear has been getting to the Paladins of Voltron for longer than they realized. Hope of their fight ending has begun to dwindle, as has the hope of ever returning home to Earth. Tempers flare and tension bubbles from the close proximity with little to no break, and internal problems once again begin to rear their ugly head. When the Paladins find themselves unable to form Voltron because of two members in particular, a desperate plan of action is set into motion - one that will leave the team forever changed. For better or worse.</p><p>AKA. Lance and Keith are big idiots that mess up the team synergy  and are chained together in an effort to get them to work out their problems.</p><p> </p><p>edit;; Shipping things start more strongly from chapter 6 on!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Unstable Frequency

_Space. The final frontier. A place where man can expand indefinitely and touch the stars with limitless possibilities. If you can dream it, you can make it. Join Galaxy Garrison for your chance at --_

Click. Static. Silence.  And then the room was filled with the sounds of 'Party in the USA' and a choir of groans.

"What the hell, Lance? I almost had the frequency aligned perfectly!" Pidge practically hissed and adjusted her glasses. Her face looked red with anger and she slammed the music off, cursing Lance under her breath the entire time.

"Pidge, language." Shiro spoke without even looking up from the screen he had been glued to for hours going over Galra patrol routes. Pidge, however, hadn't taken her eyes off Lance. She was pissed, bordering on livid to a degree she hadn't ever shown before - but that didn't really matter to the paladin picking at his wide ear and flicking away whatever content he might have removed.

"Chill, dude. You're being paranoid. No one wants to hear the Garrison garble. Why not just find a radio station instead? Remember that really awesome pop station we'd listen to during late nights and Hunk ended up crying when they swapped to sappy romantic music for a night? Don't wanna miss a thing, right Hunk?"

"It's a very emotional song and I feel no shame for properly respecting that." The larger paladin said without missing a beat, fingers in his mouth while he licked off space cheeto dust. Or the closest thing to them at least. None of the Paladins could even read the strange writing and after Allura tried to explain how to pronounce the snack all of them had silently agreed to just call them space cheetos. Things were easier that way.

"We've been out of contact with Earth for a year now and I want to know what's going on there. I haven't heard a single bleep on the radar since we got out here, but I'm getting worried. It wasn't longer than two ticks, but I know I saw something. Zarkon knows who and what we are, so I'd rather be paranoid than sorry." Pidge adjusted her glasses and went back to slamming fingers to keys, this time taking a moment to plug in headphones instead of just syncing the audio feed up to the castle's internal PA system. Dealing with Lance's shitty taste in music wasn't exactly something that could bolster her mood. And having Shiro go into 'dad mode' when she cursed him out wasn't really something she felt like dealing with either.

"You worry too much." Didn't matter she couldn't hear him, everyone else could. Lance shrugged and kicked back, feet settled onto the coffee table in front of his couch. Yes. _His couch._ He had spilled enough space juice on it to claim it for his own, and been forced to clean up afterwards. So his. He was just nice enough to let others sit on it on occasion.

"Pidge had a point, you know."

Lance whipped his head up at the voice, eyes narrowed and lips pulled back into a sneer. Ah, there he was. That mother fucker. Keith. Just strolling in like he owned the place and sitting down on the juice couch. Even though he had been sitting on the couch the entire time Pidge had been working with a knife in hand and sharpening a piece of blue space wood. Asshole. Sitting on the couch like he owned it.

"I don't know Keith, why don't you inform us of your amazing insight on the workings of intergalactic politics?" Lance said in such a casual voice it made everyone ( save for Pidge ) in the room look up and stop what they were doing. He heard it in a movie back on Earth, but he was clearly picking a fight. And Keith always took the bait.

"What does that even mean?" Keith stopped scraping the wood, his attention turned towards Lance now. A smirk crossed the darker skinned boy's face. Oh yeah, now this was a good way to end his boredom and make a point.

"You know exactly what it means, Kogane."

Keith bristled, hair practically standing on end as his eyes narrowed, the hostile tone Lance spoke with only making his mood turn south. It took everything he had to swallow his tongue and keep silent, the wrapped knife in his hand going back to carving wood. Lance always did that. He never switched to last names unless he was going out of his way to be an ass. He'd been doing that a lot lately. He hadn't even been doing anything, just sitting there quietly and made a small passing comment that challenged what he said. And now they were being pulled into another of their bullshit stupid rival fights that Keith - for some god forsaken reason - could never back away from.

"What's wrong, pretty boy? Glara got your tongue?" Lance smirked and pushed himself up, head tilted toward the ceiling in a show of arrogance. "Or do you not want to share how much you know with us? Come on, Keith. I bet you know _all_ about where the Galra are going to hit next. I've seen you poking around late at night when you thought no one was around."

Pidge stopped what she was doing, a hand moving to drop the headphones around her neck.

"Is that why my readings have been off?" She had asked an innocent question, genuinely concerned over the readings she had been monitoring over the past few weeks. If someone had been messing with setting, everything could have been thrown into chaos. Keith wasn't exactly the one that focused on tech for their team. Not that she thought he would mess things up just by touching them, but his 'quick fix' typically included shoving his bayard through a control panel to make it stop working.

And just like that, it was enough for Lance to latch onto and turn the situation where he wanted.

"Well, Keith? What _have_ you been doing?" The arrogance in Lance's voice made Keith practically hiss. He stood up, nose to nose with the taller boy and glared. They had their fights, but something felt off. Lance didn't usually try and toss suspicion onto others. He normally was a decent guy, if not conceited to a cosmic scale and arrogant to match. He had a sense of humor, a sensitive side that he tried to keep hidden from everyone. He constantly cracked inappropriately timed jokes and had a laugh that filled Keith with more warmth than he wanted to admit. Having Lance accuse him of sabotage hurt him in a way he couldn't even explain.

"None of your business, Lance. Is that what you want to hear? Just something to set you off?" Keith's voice was low so only Lance could hear. His hand gripped at the other boy's shirt, pulling him closer as he felt the growing urge to punch that smug grin off his face. "Yeah, I've been looking into things. More than you who can't do anything even with his beauty sleep. When's the last time you did anything right on your own? So why don't you take whatever set you off and deal with it instead of shoving it on me."

Silence filled the room, tension practically crackling between the two paladins. Hunk's eyes went wide, glancing between everyone in the room. No one moved, Lance's expression shifted to one of shock from the harsh words. Keith fought back, but he rarely did it with his words. If he did use words, they weren't meant to hurt just as badly as they had.

"Keith. Let him go. Now." Shiro had stood up and move closer to the pair, a hand resting on Keith's shoulder. His grip was gentle, yet firm, and Keith knew he should let go and stop acting so impulsive. They had been working on his reactions, trying to get him to calm down and stop being reckless. It had only worked to an extent, but his control had been getting much more under control. At least when Lance wasn't causing problems.

Keith released Lance's shirt and scoffed, turning to brush his hand off and making the mistake of looking away from Lance and at Shiro.

Lance rolled his shoulder and smoothed the crumpled shirt back into place, all while watching Keith and Shiro mutter to each other and give soft smiles in reply.

"That's what I thought." Lance said with an annoyed tone. For some reason the scene just pissed him off more, and he wanted to get the last word in. It wasn't that he hated Shiro, or Keith for that matter, but he just couldn't think why he felt so angry seeing them get along.  A pale fist connected with his jaw before he could even have time to react.

 "Keith!" Shiro yelled his name as the red paladin jumped at Lance, only for the two boys to become a flailing mess of limbs pulling at hair, clothes, and scratching skin wherever they could get a hold of. Fists connected over and over between the two, tumbling across the floor until they hit a wall with Keith on top. Blood trickled down Keith's forehead, and Lance could taste the copper on his tongue while the two steeled themselves to not stop until one - or both - of them were knocked out.

"Enough!" Allura's voice boomed across the room. Powerful, clear, commanding. Even if Shiro rode the black lion, everyone know who was actually in charge. She glared at the two Paladins, the look of frustration and absolute levels of 'done' clear. "That is enough from the both of you!"

Lance opened his mouth to protest, to blame Keith and excuse himself. Even with a handful of Keith's stupid mullet and fist pulled back to sock him in the jaw, he was thinking of excuses. She had seen it too many times to even give him the opportunity.  Her hand went out and she pointed at the two, brow twitching in annoyance.

 "I will _not_ hear it, from either of you! Separate this instant or so help me neither of you will be off cleaning duty for a solar earth year! And that _includes scrubbing the bathrooms by hand together._ Do I make myself clear?"

 The boys looked at each other and grimaced. They pulled apart, Hunk rushing over to look at Lance's swelling face, and Shiro ran a thumb over Keith's split eyebrow. Anger once again bubbled in Lance's gut at the sight, but this time he turned away instead of watching and letting his rage boil over.

 "You alright, buddy?" Hunk touched his friend's cheeks, concern clear in his eyes. They had been through so much together, they rarely needed words to actually talk to the other. But even that connection did nothing to help Hunk to understand why Lance seemed to be directing vicious comments towards Keith. "You've been acting weird, Lance. I mean, weirder than normal. More Lance. Like Lance and a half."

 "I'd say double Lance actually." Pidge chimed in, making the two of them jump at her sudden entrance. The three of them had grown tighter over the past year, the history they shared only making the bond stronger. Hunk and Lance were the only ones willing to stay up with Pidge for late night frequency scans for her family. Hunk provided the blankets and food, Lance provided the 'entertainment'. She did appreciate his effort. Somewhat.

 "I… I don't know. I just need some space." Lance ran a hand through his short brown hair, a shaky sigh.

 "Is it the rival thing? I thought you guys got over that. I mean, did Keith ever actually think of you as a rival, or was it just a projection on the --"

 "Hunk." Pidge placed a hand on his shoulder to shut him up, the larger paladin closing his mouth. "Look, Lance. We're a team. You can talk to us.  You know that."

 "I know. I just. I don't want to talk about it right now." Lance breathed out the words, taking a moment to glance over towards Shiro and Keith, the pair still practically fawning over each other. He glared, fists clenched, jaw tight. A sigh left out the tension and he plastered a smile onto his face, the sudden movement making his split lip sting.

 "Besides, I know you guys would be lost without me. What with my amazing flying skills, dashing good looks, and perfect personality." A smile spread across Lance's face as the two started to laugh, a sense of ease once again falling over him. Things were easier with smiles. He knew that, and he should have kept it that way.

 "Is that what you call it?" Pidge raised a brow with crossed arms, although the slightest hint of a smile still lingered on her face. She might not have been with Lance as long as Hunk, but he wasn't exactly hard to figure out. The guy wore his emotions on his sleeve, and his poker face couldn't have been more lacking.

 "Excuse me, that's exactly what it is and I'm offended --" Lance began to say, a dramatic hand going to his chest while he spoke. But before he could finished, he felt a heavy hand rest on his shoulder. He jumped, looked up, and there was Shiro looking down at him with a disappointed face.

 Or, well, was he actually disappointed or was that just his face? It was hard to tell sometimes.

 "Lance, we need to talk."

 And there it was. Lance's stomach sunk. His skin crawled and face flushed, but from embarrassment and annoyance and whatever else that might have made him feel like his dad suddenly decided he couldn't let the family disappointment continue acting the way he did. Which only hit home and made the boy swallow the hard lump in his throat down while struggling to find the words to avoid the clearly awkward situation he had been backed into because of _Keith_ as usual. The little pretty boy asshole.

 An awkward smile cracked over Lance's face, his hand picked up one finger of Shiro's and held it over his shoulder,  clear indication he wasn't really in the mood to be touched. Or talk. Yeah, the last thing Lance wanted to do was talk to Shiro and deal with whatever he had to say.

 "Shiro, look. I don't really--"

 "Well I hope everyone is ready for lunch because I'm in the process of preparing a traditional paladin dish that's sure to knock your socks off, as you humans would say." Coran's voice broke loudly across the room to accompany the soft _'swoosh'_ of the doors being opened. He had an excited look on his face, mustache looking especially shiny in accomplishment of the clear culinary masterpiece he had put together for the paladins. However, his enthusiasm faltered once he saw the grouping around Lance and the blood smears on Keith's face.

 "Is everything alright? Princess, what happened?" He inquired while looking to Allura for answered. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, not even sure where to begin. Before she could say anything, Hunk had stepped up and began to drag both Lance and Pidge along with him by their wrists.

 "You heard the man. It's time to eat. The food goo awaits and I'm not going to be the last one there."

 "Hunk, what are you doing?" Pidge and Lance echoed each other, their eyes meeting and then turning back to Hunk when they realized he had made a quick escape for all of them to get out of the awkward situation that had been growing worse with each passing second. They both stepped in time with Hunk, the trio quick to shuffle out the door.

 "Meet you guys there. Don't be late or Hunk might eat all the goo." Lance called without even looking back and waving to the ones left in the room, nearly tripping in his attempt to shove past Coran and Hunk through the door and down the hall.

 "We're having more than goo if I have any say. We've got a few things left over from our last stop on Kelplar-97X. Purple and yellow striped tubers aren't all that bad. The last time Coran made a 'traditional paladin meal' it tasted like moldy hot dogs. I'd rather eat goo that's been out for a week than that again. Come on Lance, we're on kitchen duty."

 "Wait, guys. Are you going to cook? No, I just made a few modifications, don't do that something might explode again!" Pidge yelled after Lance and Hunk, rushing from the room to stop them from whatever they had been planning to do.

 The control room was left in silence. Shiro, Keith, Coran, and Allura looked between each other, unsure of who should speak. Finally, Shiro broke the tension by clearing his throat when a muffled scream echoed across the castle hallways, followed by what sounded like an explosion.

 "Well, let's go eat. And make sure we don't need to use the fire suppressors."

They'd need those suppressors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man. So Voltron has taken over my life and this is the literal first fanfic I've written in my life rip please be gentle. All I've done is RP OCs for the last 10+ Years so this is a whole new ballpark for me. Rating and Warnings/Tags will be changed as needed because I only have about... 7 Chapters planned so far with no end in sight, so I'm not exactly sure how far this might stretch aha.
> 
> I'm too embarrassed to have a beta so if I notice anything like typos I'll fix them and i'm sorry in advanced!!  
> Tags will be added as they are needed!


	2. Stubborn Stains

The walls dripped. Puddles of water and fire suppressant foam mixed together into a silvery sheen that coated the kitchen. Green goo oozed down chrome and left a greasy streak on the otherwise clean surface. Black smoke drifted from now broken appliances, soot and ash littered across the ceiling only to fall down and darken whatever it might have landed on. Black and green and silver swirled together to form a toxic looking sludge while the emergency sprinkles continued to hose the room down. Each burst of water seemed to match in tempo with an alarm scream, the volume high enough to echo down the hallways and dining area.

And in the middle of all the chaos, coated in goo and soot and foam, stood three idiots in silence. They glanced between each other at a loss for words on their situation.

Globs of goo dripped off of Pidge's glasses, her usual flipped chestnut hair heavy and dark from the continued artificial rain, a slight sheen of ghastly green tinting her skin and clothing. Hunk's bangs were plastered down, his headband having slipped from the excessive moisture to cover one of his brows and the goop that covered his face was being licked off where he could actually reach. Lance, well, he just looked like a soaked chihuahua. He shook from the cold, thin clothes clinging to his slim body. The usual coat he wore had been taken off once they all entered the kitchen so his white shirt looked like someone had decided to wash it with lime green kool-aid - but only the front. At least the color matched Pidge. Lance just looked like a half starved gummy bear.

There was no way those stains were going to come out no matter how hard they scrubbed or bleached.

Pidge had tried to warn them about the modifications, but Lance decided they needed to try setting the oven to 900 degrees for five minutes compared to 350 for twenty minutes. _'Time efficient'_ he had said like it was the most well known fact in the universe. It turned out Pidge had a similar idea in mind the night before when she had a craving for pizza but didn't feel like waiting an hour for it to cook. In the end she never got the pizza and went to bed without switching settings back to what they were before.

It wasn't that Lance didn't know how to cook - Earth food at least. Hunk just happened to be better of the two. Especially when it came to starches and finding new ways to throw food together. Which helped in an unknown environment. But it didn't help when the kitchen decided to explode.

"What…" Shiro's voice made the three of them snap out of the wet daze, a choir of stifled giggles erupting from the trio while he looked around. The black paladin pulled a face - somehow a mixture of absolute confusion and slight impress - when he looked up and saw a person shaped outline of green food goo on the wall next to the entrance in the shape of Lance's thin body.

They broke. Laughter erupted clear though the three of them, Pidge and Lance settling to lean against Hunk to support themselves as their bodies shook in delight. The alarm and water finally stopped once Shiro turned it off, his expression still in awe for how they could have ruined the kitchen in such a short amount of time.

"I can't believe you thought that would work!" Pidge commented between gasping for air, still doubled over in continuous laughter. "Even Hunk isn't that bad!"

"You're the one that said it could cook faster!" Lance cried in an indignant tone between laughter. "I was just following instructions."

"You blew up the oven, dude." Hunk swiped a bit of the charred goo off his face and shove it into his mouth.

"Hey, hey. With your help! It take two to tango, my friend, and I'm not the one that broke it."

"I'm not the one that thought kicking it would be a good idea, Lance."

"It was a great idea!"

"If by great idea you mean the perfect way to make the kitchen look like a green goo covered crime scene, then yes. A great idea." Pidge chimed in, her voice high with delight.

"But what about lunch? If we grab food fast enough we can dart before Coran comes in." Hunk paused and looked at Shiro. The black paladin was still standing in the doorway, just watching the trio in silence as they slowly began to calm their giggles - pain in their sides radiating from too much laughter.

"Don't think you three are getting out of cleaning duty. You made the mess, you fix the mess." Shiro laughed to himself, once again slipping into the notorious 'dad mode'. A choir of groans were his reply, and his hands went up in defense. "No complaints. Come on guys, you know the rules."

"Yeah guys, you know the rules. Chop chop." Lance leaned back with a smirk and supported himself on a slick counter, only to lose his footing and slip onto his ass. His foot caught a massive glob of goo that had fallen to the floor and sent it flying. Straight towards Shiro. His attention had been turned towards the Lance-shaped goo on the wall, and once he heard to sound of someone falling he turned just in time to have the goop spatter against his face. Everyone was quiet, the green completely covering Shiro's expression before it slid down his face and fell to the floor with a wet _'flop'_.

Once again they erupted into bells of laughter - this time Shiro joined in.

"Alright, that's it." Shiro's voice was low, but a rumble of delight edged his words. His hand moved to scoop the goo up off the floor, arm pulled back, and aimed directly at Pidge. The goo connected against her temple.

A loud gasp escaped the trio. Oh, it was on. They all scrambled to dive behind a counter, scraping up the bits of charred goop and arming themselves for the coming war.

"We're under direct attack!" Pidge declared to her teammates, the green goo dripping between her fingers while she prepared more ammo for their assault. "Lance, Hunk! Cover me!"

The small paladin used her speed to roll towards a better position, stopping short when she couldn't quite make the tumble fully. And just like she had requested, Lance and Hunk provided covering fire to pin Shiro down while she moved. While they did so, Pidge scooted herself across the ground to try and hide her attempted moment of being cool with a video game cover change roll.

Shiro ran, arms up to protect his face, and pushed over a table on the far side of the room to use a shield from the relentless bombardment against him. He was already nearly covered in the goo, but that didn't mean he had accepted defeat.

Back and forth the goo went, loud echoes of laughing filling the room and drifting across the castle. All of them were splattered with the goo, their bodies getting more and more sticky the longer their epic battle went on. And then it happened. _The final blow._

Head shots apparently meant nothing to the Paladins, but as soon as Pidge felt goo hit the center of her chest she let out an elongated 'Nooooo' in despair.

A dramatic slow motion fall to her knees sent Hunk over to her side. He caught her back and let her drape over an arm as if they were dancing and he went for a dip.

"Guys, I'm hit. Go on without me." Pidge raised a hand toward the ceiling, giving a dramatic 'death' while clutching her shirt where the goo had hit. Hunk cradled Pidge's small body, curled over her as if to mourn. Her hands fell limp, tongue sticking out the side of her mouth. He sat down with her limp body still in his arm.

"Why must the good die young? Pidge, you will be avenged. Aveeeenged!" Hunk looked up from the 'dead' paladin in his arms, false tears forming in his eyes while he held out his words to declare the desire for revenge against Shiro.

"I'll be with you. Always." Pidge muttered, her position still 'dead' with closed eyes.

"What are you some kind of force ghost now?" Lance looked over at the two of them. Shiro hurled a huge ball of goo and it slammed against the side of his head with enough force to make him lose his balance.

"Help me, Pidgey Wan. You're my only hope." Lance cried while scraping the goo off his head and firing it back at Shiro, his laughter making the words harder to understand.

"Wait why does Lance get to be Leia? Shouldn't it be Allura?" The fight slowed to a stop at Pidge's question. She had pushed herself up from the death position but stayed in Hunk's lap.

"Obviously because I'm the pretty one." Lance flipped his hair, a crooked grin on his face. His teeth practically sparkled. "And Hunk here is Luke."

"Shouldn't Shiro be Luke? What with the cool robot arm going on. I mean i don't mind being Luke, but it just seems to fit more."  

"No no no. Shiro is clearly Vader. I mean look at him!" Lance moved to his knees and motioned towards Shiro. Pidge and Hunk followed suit by going to their knees as well and looking over the protective barrier that was a counter. The illustrious leader looked at them slightly dumbfounded, the goo still in his hand from before. "He's got the whole all-black outfit and hot dad thing going on."

"Lance…" Shiro didn't really know what to say, and a slight trace of red bloomed on his face.

"Wait. You think Vader is hot? Lance what the hell."

"Pidge. Language." Shiro cut through before the others could speak, using the interjection to clear his throat and push away the embarrassment of being called a 'hot dad'.

"What, no I mean young Anakin pre-Vaderification. Young hot dad before he gets turned into a crispy bacon strip. Just give Shiro a side braid and _boom_ instant padawan."

"You actually watched the prequels?"

"You didn't? Have you seen Padme? Total babe material."

"What are you guys doing? I could hear you yelling down the hall." Keith opened the door while speaking, footsteps stopping once he caught sight of the mess.

"It's Keith Solo! He owes me money!" Lance shouted. He pointed and readied a handful of goo, wasting no time to pinpoint target his rival's face and hurl it at his face.

"Money, what? I don't- Bwah!" Keith didn't even have time to finish being confused before being pelted in the face full on. He stumbled backwards and leaned against the wall to wipe his face off. "Lance, what the hell?!"

Once again, Lance nearly doubled over in laughter. He moved around the counter towards Keith, trying to stifle the laughter entirely unsuccessfully. A hand went to his shoulder, the blue paladin trying to force a serious look onto his face while Keith wiped the goo off his eyes and accidentally smeared it into his bangs.

"You're looking a bit _green_ , Keith." Lance snickered, the groans from Pidge, Hunk, and Shiro only making his laughter that much louder. Keith looked positivity offended, trying his best to keep the pissed off look on his face.

Fighting off a grin when an idiotic boy stared with a dopey smirk on his face, hair wild and sticking in all direction, proved to be too much. Keith couldn't help but smile, the sour expression on his face breaking apart as laughter filled his lungs.

Lance stared. It wasn't just a passing glance. He found his eyes glued to Keith while he laughed, noticing the way his nose wrinkled and how his eyes thinned. How his cheeks turned up to compliment the curve of his jaw, or how his lips curled back to show off more teeth than they usually saw. The way his hand rose to try and cover the grin, to suppress the laughter and try to quiet himself down. How his shoulder shook even while Lance reached out to grab his wrist and stop him from hiding the sight. Because oh no, Keith wasn't allowed to hide something so rare that made his skin feel like fire and his lungs feel like they couldn't get enough air.

"Lance? You alright?" Keith had quieted his laughter, eyes looking down to the dark hand gripping his wrist. A dusting of pink covered his cheeks, but he didn't attempt to shake the other teen away. They stood there in silence while everyone else continued to prattle on about who would be Yoda, seemingly oblivious to the quiet bubble that surrounded them both. Neither of them moved when their eyes locked.

"Yeah. I'm good. I'm good. Cute laugh." Lance muttered without thinking, his words barely above a whisper. His brow knit together, gaze flicking away from Keith. Wait, cute? _What the hell?_

"Wait, what?" Keith blinked in confusion, taking a step closer to Lance. "What did you just say?"

Lance felt his face turn bright red, a loud scoff to try and cover his tracks. He started to awkwardly laugh, thoughts churning on what he could say as an excuse. He didn't get a chance to even try.

The castle shook, alarms blaring across the entire structure. Red lights flashed, staining the kitchen a sickly color as the boys snatched apart and tried to maintain their footing. An explosion ripped through the inner corridors, the sound deafening and enough to send their ears ringing and cause spots on the edge of their vision from the bright flash of light. Dread washed over all of the paladins while they abandoned the kitchen to break into a flat sprint to make their way towards the control room.

They were still covered in food goo, their faces streaked with black and hair sticking in all directions. They forgot about the fun, forgot about the laughter that had filled all of them just moments before. The airy atmosphere had been crushed and replaced with a heavy reminder that their lives were never safe. That no matter how much time they thought would be calm, it could be snatched away in a heartbeat.

Allura looked across the controls, her hands frantically adjusting the particle barrier to stop the oxygen from leaking into space and protect the castle from a sudden and relentless assault. The hull had already been breached. She didn't look away from the massive battleship that had drifted into view, dozens - if not hundreds - of smaller fighters swarming around their ship and peppering the barrier with heavy fire. Their location should have been hidden, they should have been safe, secure, away from danger for at least a moment.

The castle shook again, blaring alarms muffled to the members of team voltron from their shock and confusion. Allura was the first to break the silence. She needed to get everyone moving. They had to counter attack, they had to move. Her voice was barely above a whisper as she spoke, her usual confidence shaken for but a moment. Her father would have known what to do - but he wasn't there and everything fell to her shoulders. Her paladins, the universe. All of them were counting on her and she could barely fathom the severity of the situation without feeling numb.

"It's the Galra. They've found us."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And chapter 2 is here !!
> 
> Thank you all so so much for reading omg I didn't actually expect people to enjoy these dumb space kids. They give me too many feelings. 
> 
> I'm absolutely in love with Lance/Pidge/Hunk friendship so expect to see more of that, especially in later chapters. Hopefully no one minds!


	3. Yellow

Everything happened so fast.

The castle took another massive hit and shook, red alerts flashed across screens, each one accompanied with another blare of the sirens. Just moments before they had been enjoying themselves, still covered in the remnants of their last 'battle'.

"Paladins, to your lions! Defend the castle! There's no time to waste!" Allura's voice broke across the alarms, shaking the paladins from their daze. Shiro shook his head first, fists clenched as he turned to run towards the docking bay. He clapped a hand against Pidge and Keith's shoulder while he passed, a nod given to Lance and Hunk as all of them followed his lead.

They just needed to follow him and everything would work out fine, right? It had to.

Pidge nearly lost her footing when the castle shook again, this time more violent than before. Hunk caught her before she could hit the ground, barely grabbing a fistful of her shirt to stop her from falling face first. She quietly thanked him and righted herself, knowing there wasn't actually time to do more than that. He gave a smile and nodded before they continued on, bits of food goo dropping behind them all as they separated to dive into their lions.

No time to change, no time to clean up, no time to idle. But they needed their armor, needed the protection. Drill after drill had pounded that into their heads. But they hadn't prepare for a sudden attack to their own base with no warning, no time to prepare. Even if attacks came, they always had warnings. So why hadn't one come? Why were they so blindsided?

A breath caught in Lance's throat. The armor he wore felt as if the weight of the entire galaxy fell onto his shoulders. What if it had something to do with what Pidge was looking at before? No no no. He couldn't think about it, couldn't blame himself right before heading into a battle. He thought the words to himself over and over like a mantra. It wasn't his fault. It wasn't his fault.

He repeated the words over and over until he settled into Blue's cockpit and gripped the controls.

The helmet felt tight, suffocating. The sickeningly sweet smell of food goo in his hair only made it worse.  Even the calming purrs of Blue did little to ease his thoughts once they launched. Something felt wrong. Something he couldn't place. It made his skin crawl and his stomach twist. He just needed to fly and focus on everything turning out okay.

Battles were a flow, like water. At least in the beginning. After a year of fighting, the controls felt natural. Intuitive.

Shiro had been flying most of his life. His movements were calculated, precise. Each turn tight while he dodged the fire coming towards his lion. His lion roared the loudest, especially before using the jaw blade. It was something to watch in awe while he ripped apart fighter after fighter, a trail of explosions peppering the empty void of space. He was a hero, so much more than the rest of them. It was something you couldn't ever forget or overlook. Something that just made him all the more of an impossible goal to reach towards.

He formed the head for a reason, even more while he charged the warship to dig claws into the side, covered by the rest of them while swarms of ships tried to stop them.

Everything blurred together. The explosions sounded muffled. Lance gripped his controls, pulled back, and fired. Fighter ships froze and drifted off, easily picked off by Hunk or Pidge coming in to finish the job. He wasn't actually sure. The warship fired at the castle and they had to separate as the bright fuchsia met the hexagonal shield.

Allura came over the coms to give instructions and they all moved. Smooth. Calculated. It almost felt like Lance wasn't the one flying and Blue had decided to take over. It made him think back to the first time he tried to surf in California. How a rip current had nearly swept him away. Lungs filled with water, eyes burning, and the utterly crushing feeling of water pulling him down into darkness with no hopes of breaking the surface.

The helmet felt suffocating. He could barely breathe.

"Lance, on your left!" In a split second, or what felt like it, Keith flew past being chased by at least fifteen ships, and he turned to rip them apart with ease. It pulled Lance out of his trance, like a hand taking hold of his while he slipped deeper underwater.

Keith - that motherfucker - he knew how to move. For someone that could barely handle social situations or understand basic dance moves, he was a natural in the air. In space. Whatever. The void that existed above solid ground where he wasn't trying to knife a person to death over waking him up at 5am.  It only made sense he'd take on Red. He fit the 'natural hot head' cliche to match his color.  Especially in battle when he felt the need to show off.

Showing off in battle had its place, and boy did Keith not know the time for it.

"They're trying to get through the hull. We've got to stop them. I've got it!" Keith didn't even give time for anyone to protest. Red began to charge, jaw open and fire building. He broke away from the group and sped towards the broadside of the castle, a trail of exploded ships followed after him while he vanished into the darkness.

"Keith, what are you doing? Don't be an idiot!"  Lance cried through the intercom, desperation edging his voice. He knew that look, he knew that stance and the tension in Red that just spelled bad ideas coming. His face came up on the visual screen, and it only made Lance want to scream when he saw the crooked grin on his face and the way his eyes almost sparkled at the thought of whatever had latched into his empty brain.

"I said I've got it!" The confidence that brimmed in his voice almost bordered on a need to be respected, a desire to be noticed. It felt like he was screaming 'look at me' without saying a word. The warship had begun to charge its own canon, the size more massive than they had ever encountered. And it was aimed directly at the ship - at the red lion.

"Keith!" Lance felt his throat go dry once he yelled. The feeling from before only grew worse. His stomach clenched, jaw tight. He pulled the controls on Blue to avoid incoming fire.

"Keith, stand down! Don't fire! It's too dangerous!" Shiro yelled over the com a moment too late.

Fire erupted from Red and blasted apart the ships, the beam moving in a solid line over the surface of the castle to clear away anything left over. The shields took the brunt of the attack, but had stayed active. Somehow.

A shout of victory left Keith, his grin wide as he looked at the visual screen.

"Did you guys see that? A perfect -- Shit!" His boasting was interrupted when the warship fired, narrowly avoiding the beam. It pierced the castle's shield. Bright blue rippled across the surface of the ship while the shields powered off and left it exposed.

The look of victory had vanished from Keith's face. His face blanched. Jaw slack, eyes wide. And then he realized he still had on the visual stream and cut the feed before anyone could notice.  

"Paladins. We need --- Warp --- arship out -- ields down. The ship has been com--" Allura's voice crackled over their coms. The static interference bad enough that they couldn't make out her words, but the message was clear enough. They needed to retreat.

"Team, we need to form Voltron and take out that warship before it can fire again." Shiro's voice broke over the com as fuschia energy gathered for another attack. Most of the smaller fighters had been taken down, but a single shot from the warship could have ripped the castle apart.

Lance hesitated when all the other voices echoed around him, but he clicked the feed. His voice was solid, although it lacked the usual confidence he held. That cocky attitude that got him into more trouble than not, the one Keith challenged. The one that made Hunk laugh and Pidge grumble in frustration. The one Shiro always seemed to be disappointed in.

Lance was the first one to cut the feed as they began to fly in formation. Or maybe it had been Keith. He didn't really give enough time to care.

"You alright?" Hunk pulled over to a private line, visual and all. His soft features showed clear concern.

"What? Yeah. Of course I am, buddy. Why wouldn't I be?" Lance replied without missing a beat, although he refused to show his face. He wasn't sure he could wipe the concerned expression off his face. And everyone knew he had an awful poker face. Everyone except Keith, it seemed.

"You've been quiet. It's not like you."

He fliched, grimaced and shook his head. They had to focus on the battle.

"It's fine. You worry too much, Hunk." Lance gave a crooked grin, lips pulled back to show off his white teeth and a hand raised for a thumbs up. Even if no one could actually see what he did, it helped him keep the act up. "Let's kick some Galra butt."

He cut the feed, a sense of guilt building in his gut as the expression on Hunk's face burned itself into his mind. A deep breath wouldn't be enough to calm his nerves, but it did the job for a moment. All five lions flew in formation with Shiro leading the pride. Light enveloped them, each glowing their respective color to sync together and form. But at the last moment, Blue and Red pulled out of formation.

"Keith, Lance. What are you doing?" Shiro called over the com, all of their faces appearing on the visual screens.

"I don't know! Blue just… Pulled out. She's not responding!" Lance pulled at the controls to adjust his lion's movement, but they were locked. He yelled at an electric shock that traveled through his hands, making him recoil and pull away.

"My lion isn't responding either. Shiro, what's going on?!" Keith clenched his jaw as Red began to spin out of control. Stray fighters zeroed in on Keith, their fire concentrated and slowly breaking apart the lightly armored lion. Alarms blared through the com channel.

"I've got you, buddy." Hunk didn't even hesitate as he broke out of their formation to dive after Keith, the heavy armor of his lion blocking incoming fire. He grinned at Keith and gave a thumbs up.

"Shiro, we need to go!" Pidge cried while pulling out as well to cover Lance, her lion grabbing hold of Blue's tail and slinging it out of the way of fire. Lance screamed while Blue rolled through the air. He felt his stomach gurgle, and not in a good way. He felt like Hunk, and he did _not_ want to get sick in his lion. Shiro stopped him from spinning, the two lions colliding to a stop.

"Allura, we have a problem. We can't form Voltron, we need that wormhole. Allura? Come in, Allura!" Shiro tried to get the castle's attention, but it was met with nothing outside of loud static and the occasional broken word that couldn't even be made out over the sudden screeching coming from their own lions.

Lance felt numb again. Like his head had slipped underwater and he couldn't claw his way back up.

The warship fired.

People says when your life's in danger, everything slows down. For Lance, it sped up. And repeated. Over and over and over.

Everyone watched as the castle shifted from impact. One of the thrusters exploded with so much force it sent shockwaves that even pushed the lions back. Broken screams from Allura and Coran pierced their ears, high pitched and painful. It mixed with all of the alarms and frantic cries from Pidge and Shiro. Screams, so loud and yet so quiet, crying for an escape. About not wanting to die.

But Lance pulled his attention away from the ship being hit. He noticed something much more important.

Bile rose in the back of his throat while he watched Hunk kick Keith away from the blast. The red lion spiraled away from the impact fast enough to avoid getting caught in the destruction - but Yellow? She wasn't fast enough. Yellow had never been fast enough. Always one second behind, one tick too slow.

The beam caught the lion's back, its armor plating doing little to stop the sheer destructive power that had ripped apart the castle. Video feed from Hunk went silent, dark, replaced with nothing but static and the tail end of Hunk screaming in pain.

"Hunk! No, no no. Hunk!" Lance screeched the words, not even caring that his voice cracked or what they had been doing. Blue roared, control finally returned to Lance. He pulled away from the group, Blue's jaw open to grab hold of Hunk's lion by the plating, dragging the now useless metal creature towards the castle.

"Come on buddy, come on. Respond. Pick up. Don't do this to me." Lance clenched his jaw and whispered through his teeth, biting back tears that stung at his eyes and threatened to fall. Nothing else mattered but getting his best friend away from danger. He couldn't lose him, not after everything they had been through.

Voices went across the channels, and Lance could only make out the tones for who was speaking. He didn't care what they were saying once docked on the ship and setting Yellow down as gently as possible. His world was spinning and his throat was dry as he threw himself out of his own lion and towards Yellow's jaw.

His fingers nearly bled when he tried to push the jaws open, screaming all the while. He didn't even notice everyone else landing or the ship flying through a wormhole to some unknown destination. No thoughts crossed his mind when Yellow finally opened her jaw and let him in, his throat going raw from how much he screamed Hunk's name. He didn't care about the blood - something he usually recoiled over - going down Hunk's forehead and staining his armor, his headband, his pained face.

Lance never noticed the tears streaming down his face while he tried desperately to drag Hunk out on his own, barking commands at the others to move, to save him, to do anything they could to keep him alive. To keep him breathing. Everything felt numb, cold, like his head was slipping underwater again and he couldn't find the surface.

A pained wail ripped through the medical bay when he found out the healing pods were malfunctioning from the blast. Unable to fully heal, unable to fix everything. But it would work. It would work enough. He choked back more tears when Shiro and Pidge forced him out of the medical bay so Allura and Coran could work on fixing it without interruptions.

Everything happened so fast.

And all he could do was curl into a ball and scream in frustration, blood streaked across his white armor. Blood that wasn't even his, blood that should have never been spilled. Pidge sat by his side, a hand on his shoulder while his sobs slowly shifted from loud to silent. Until his body went still and his fists clenched. Not even hours before they had been enjoying themselves, laughing together, joking about Star Wars like idiots.

But now? None of that mattered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a klance fic i mutter to myself while setting up 500 different things and adding more plot points for down the road.  
> im so sorry for the delay! Ended up having to rewrite this chapter because I didn't like how i originally had it planned out. The next chapter should come sooner!  
> Thank you guys for reading ;v; I appreciate it a lot <3


	4. Waves

How long had he sat there? Hours? A full day? Lance didn't care enough to find out. 

The tears stopped, but the empty feeling remained. Pidge had left him alone with his thoughts in still bloody armor. She said something about going to get him clothes, or food, or something. He hadn't really been paying attention. Didn't really want to. Nothing they said would make it better, not until Hunk could walk and talk like normal. Even when she came back and set what looked like a basket next to him, he didn't move.

Shiro had come to check on him, tried to talk to him. Lance kept his mouth shut and his eyes closed, tuning out anything he could have said. It was his own fault Hunk had gotten so hurt. Blue didn't want to react to him at the last second and threw everything off. How could he not blame himself? Hunk wouldn't want him to do that, but Hunk wasn't there.

The thought choked him.

_ He'll be okay. _ Lance repeated the words until they were carved into his mind and he felt his arms slowly release pulled up knees. He ached from having been in the same curled position for so long, knees screaming when he finally stretched them out. A sigh escaped once he stood and rolled his shoulder. Moving hurt, but it was better than staying in a ball all day. Especially seeing as he still had on his full armor, helmet and all.

The castle lights were dimmed to simulate nighttime, long shadows cast across the hallway and medical bay while Lance stood and turned towards Hunk. Leaning on a healing pod wasn't the best for someone's back. 

He didn't know the time, but he hated how calm everything felt. How empty. The castle had enough size to house well over 300 people with ease, and yet all they had were seven people and four mice. Plus five semi-sentient lions, if anyone wanted to count them. 

A hand moved towards the surface of the healing pod Hunk rested in, his expression serene while he slept. 

"Hey, buddy. Hope you're sleeping well." Lance spoke to the pod, briefly wondering if Hunk could actually hear him. "So is this what it felt like when I was in there for so long? Just waiting and hoping everything goes well. These pod things are pretty weird, aren't they? Space magic for all your pharmacy needs. We could sell it. Be a huge hit, I bet."

Lance couldn't help but to breathe deep, trying to steady his voice and stop tears from actually falling. He didn't need to start again. Not when he had just stopped.

"Get some hot babes with all the money we make. Think we could take on the boardwalk? Oh man, I could take you to visit my family back in Mexico finally. Just dad's side, though. Mom is from Ohio, you know that. And corn isn't exactly the most fun to see. But oh man, Nan loves to cook. I'm sure she'd love you. And after that you could take me to your place and we can stay with your family over there. The waves in Malibu have nothing on Maui from what you've told me."

It helped. More than he expected. Just talking it out, going over plans, letting his mind wander to good times. Lance let out a laugh and rest his forehead on the cool pod glass, eyes closed while he took a deep breath. He was going to be okay.

"When you wake up, I'll make breakfast. The good stuff. Scrambled eggs, bacon, fresh fruit. I'll drag the whole castle back to Earth if I have to. Who knows what kind of eggs we'd get out here. Don't want to accidentally extinct a chicken race for wanting some breakfast." He grinned to himself, hand balled into a fist against the glass. "And I'll make sure Keith stays out of the kitchen. He can't cook for shit. Once I saw him trying to make some weird concoction when he thought no one was looking and I swear it came to life. He pulled out his knife and everything to cut it up. You'd think for a guy that has a mysterious knife he never let's anyone else touch there would be some sort of story, right? Like maybe he's a chosen one or an alien or something." Lance paused and pushed back, brow knit together. 

"The alien thing doesn't really work anymore when you're in contact with them daily, does it? Well I can just mock his cooking instead. Food goo just isn't the same without you, buddy. Who else is going to suck it through a straw and make awful faces when it's gone? Not Shiro. Man, he's too perfect for his own good. And have you seen his jawline? You could cut glass on that thing. I bet Pidge would be willing to make gross faces, she does it all the time anyways. And Keith. Don't even get me started on Keith. He looks like a puffed up pomeranian trying it's best to be scary. Just look at his mullet. It's so fluffy and dumb, you just want to pet it. Not that he wouldn't bite back, but I do beat him at running speed so I could get away. Score one for Lance."

"Score one for who now?"

Lance froze. 

Oh no. No no no. Why now? Why did it have to be Keith? He'd know that voice anywhere. Especially the voice challenging him and acting like he didn't win at anything because honestly - fuck that guy. He wasn't in the mood and he didn't want to look at him. Yet there he was, in all his mullet glory.

"Ah the mullet wonder, perfect. What do you want." Lance kept his eyes on the pod, focusing on Hunk's sleeping face. How his chest rose and fell. The slight blue tint to his skin that could have either been from the lighting or something he didn't even want to think about.

"What's your problem?"

"You're my problem, Kogane. You and that stupid mullet head of yours. The 90s called and it wants it's hair back." Hunk would have laughed at that. The realization only made anger bubble in Lance's gut.

"I didn't even do anything! Why do you hate me so much?" Keith's voice raised just enough to cause Lance to whip around.

It's your fault, Keith!" Lance's voice tore through the silence, helmet ripped off and discarded harshly, each stride he took towards the shorter paladin filled with contempt and an anger none of them had seen before. His arms moved wide, fists balled as the helmet crashed against the ground. It might have cracked. He didn't know. Didn't care to check.

"My fault? What? How is it my fault?" Keith fired back, already on the defensive. His shoulders rolled forward, eyes narrowed, teeth bared. "I just came here to see how you were doing!"

"If you weren't such a reckless idiot charging in like some shitty hero trying to save the day this wouldn't have happened! And I don't need you to just," Lance paused, air quotes going strong. " _ 'Check up on me' _ or whatever the hell you're getting at. You think you can help? Your 'help' is the reason Hunk is in there!" 

"Well maybe if you weren't such a stubborn self centered dick then we wouldn't have had the problem to begin with! Why do you think we couldn't form Voltron? It sure as hell wasn't me." 

"Don't you dare turn this around on me. It's just as much your fault!"

"So it's my fault you're a shitty pilot with a shitty attitude."

"Hunk could have died thanks to that stunt you pulled and that's what you bring up?" Lance's voice lowered to a hiss. Normally he picked a fight just to see Keith puff up, but it wasn't like that this time. Hunk had been hurt, and Keith made the perfect person to push all the blame onto. Lance knew it was wrong, knew he was just lashing out and acting like a child. But he couldn't stop. Especially not as tears once again began to sting the corner of his eyes. "Now he's stuck in a healing pod that might not even be working right because you 'accidentally' shot the ship!"

"Or the ship could have been blown up and neither of us would be standing here right now!"

"In case you missed it, genius, half of the ship  _ was _ blown up. Gotta keep that Mr. Macho 'I'm better than you' attitude going though, right?" 

"I stopped those ships!" An indignant look crossed Keith's face, which only proved to piss Lance off all the more. 

Lance took hold of Keith's shirt and pulled his closer. They had been closing the distance, foreheads practically pressed together while they both bowed up ready for whoever threw the first punch. Lance grabbing Keith's shirt did little to stop the electricity that crackled between the two of them.

"But it didn't matter. Because now Hunk is unconscious. All because he had to save you from being blown to bits. And you're just making excuses?!" Lance growled the words, eyes closed to try and fight off the forming tears. He was angry, hurt, confused. And the last thing he needed to happen would be cry out of anger and spite. 

"Excuses? How are these…" Keith's voice cracked, but he stopped mid sentence and took a deep breath to try and calm down. "You know what, no. No. This isn't worth it. I didn't come here to --"

A loud  _ crack _ echoed through the room as Lance slammed his forehead into Keith's, causing them both to stumble backwards. Lance caught himself on Hunk's healing pod, the burning pain from the headbutt worse than he expected. But there was something about watching Keith stumble backwards and trip over his own feet, something about watching him fall flat on his ass and rub the growing red on his forehead. It made Lance feel better than he would have thought, but it also made his stomach turn in confusion and disgust with himself. 

Even so, he couldn't stop the words that spilled from the back of his throat. With each rise of his chest and the swell of his voice - it created the promise of a hoarse voice and regrets once the day rolled over.

But right then? He didn't care. 

"No, fuck you, Keith! Ever since you said we should leave Allura I knew I shouldn't trust you!" The hurt look on Keith's face did little to stop Lance from continuing. "All we have out here is each other and all you do is just… you only think about yourself! You're so selfish and self centered and you never think about what someone else might be thinking or feeling! You rush in and make all of us worry and it's like you don't even care about the mini heart attacks we suffer every single time! I get it, you're the weird loner kid that doesn't want to get close to anyone, but holy shit man. How can we trust you if you barely even trust us?"

"But I do -- mmph!" Keith tried to protest, but Lance jumped across the room to slap a hand over his mouth. He wasn't done. Not by a long shot. Even through the anger in Keith's eyes, even through the wobble of his bottom lip while fighting off the tears that wanted to fall the longer he went on. 

"Don't. Just dont, Keith. Stop. We're supposed to be a team. You're just never going to be a team player… are you? This is bigger than your stupid pride. You don't know how important you are to… To…" Lance paused and grit his teeth, not even sure what he was going to say. He shoved himself away from Keith and wiped the hand that had been on his mouth against his under armor. His fists balled while he turned away from Keith to grab his helmet.

"Whatever.  _ It's not worth it _ ." He repeated the words Keith had spoken before, venom dripping through each syllable as he kept his back to the red paladin. His fingers curled around the edge of his helmet until the knuckles on his hands turned white. A deep breath and Lance turned to leave the room without another word, his gaze not even passing over Pidge when he walked past her.

"Uh... Did I come at a bad time?" She had stopped by the door frame and watched as the scene unfolded, eyes wide and filled with concern. Her grip tightened on the straps of her backpack. 

"How much did you hear?" Keith questioned, a hand on his jaw to try and readjust it from the sudden shove. It didn't hurt, the feeling just wasn't pleasant.

"Enough."

They both looked away and let the silence hang in the air. Keith set himself down in a chair and sighed while Pidge went to check on Hunk. The air was awkward, tense. Neither wanted to say anything about what had happened.

"Look, Keith." Pidge broke her silence and rubbed an arm. "He didn't mean it. Lance, he...  When he gets upset he sometimes lashes out. He's a bit of an angry crier. Or well, he used to be. He's not really been letting things out recently, at least not with us around. He and Hunk have been together since they were kids, so he knows how to handle Lance when he gets into one of his moods. But now that Hunk isn't... " She stopped and ruffled her own hair, a sigh edging past her lips. "Look I'm… I'm not trying to make excuses for him. He's not in the right with what he said. I'm just saying he didn't mean it. We trust you, Keith. He trusts you. So don't take it to heart, alright? Lance is just… He's angry and upset and you're the first person he always looks at - good or bad."

"No, I'm pretty sure he hates me." Keith dismissed what she said without a second thought, brow knit together as he pushed himself up to go hit the training deck.

"He doesn't hate you, Keith. He's just… Lance. Extra Lance-y without Hunk. But trust me when I say he doesn't hate you." Pidge kept her expression calm and pulled out a laptop to work. She didn't like describing Lance like that, but it wasn't her place to speak for him. Or for Hunk. He could have made it better.

"Yeah. I get it." He shrugged to once again dismiss her statement, the scowl on his face only growing deeper.

"Just talk to him when things settle down."

He paused at the door frame with his back to Pidge, a gloved hand gripping the metal. "Who?"

"That's for you to decide, Keith." 

He sighed and continued towards the training deck, making certain to avoid any path Lance might have taken. 

Two days of awkward silence and avoidance later, Hunk woke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick note for Lance & Hunk! So these are only my personal HC for this fic, and I'll be writing more on these later aha. I apologize how much of a focus their friendship has gotten, it's just a really important platonic relationship to me, as well as for the fic. Hunk is the heart of the team, after all. Shipping things will be more a focus in the next few chapters !! Just so much buildup omg. Slow burn for a reason amirite aaaah a ha lays face down.
> 
> For simplicity, my Lance is biracial - mexican and white american! Although he never actually lived in mexico, he does visit his extended family there every year, sometimes multiple times a year if time permits. Outside of that, he lives in SoCal, specially the LA area. 
> 
> Hunk also lives in SoCal, having gone to the same school as Lance from elementary and upwards until they entered the Garrison together. He's polynesian, originally from Maui, Hawaii, and his family moved to SoCal when he was young. So they've been together for quite some time.


	5. Star Chart

Being alone made everything seem easier.  'Seem' being the key word.

The past week had been an emotional rollercoaster and Lance was ready to get off. The ride. Emotions ride. Not the other type. Ho boy, he wasn't thinking about that at all. If anything, all he could think about involved the fight he had with Keith. How he ended up crying way more than he ever wanted the other to see. And how he let himself get out of hand by pushing everything onto Keith.

Lance knew he fucked up. He knew blaming Keith for everything only added tension to the team. Tension they didn't need while trying to repair the ship and get the Yellow Lion back into working order. He kept to himself while waiting in the medical bay.

He avoided Keith. It was only two days before Hunk woke up, so it wasn't as if doing so had proven difficult. But whenever Lance caught sight of Keith in a hallway, he could have sworn some sort of hurt look crossed his expression. Maybe he had just been seeing things. After all, Keith didn't really _get hurt_. At least, not like Lance did.

An apology would need to come at some point, but whenever Lance found himself thinking about it, all he could do was choke. How could he come out and just ask to be forgiven? He had told Keith he didn't trust him. Which had been a lie. A stupid, in the heat of the moment, lie. If anything, he trusted Keith way more than he should have. All those years of forced rivalry, all those years of thinking _Lance and Keith head to head, neck and neck_ backfired more than he expected in a single moment. And he regretted it more than he wanted to admit. Especially to Keith. Always to Keith.

He just wanted Hunk to wake up. He wanted to talk to his friend and figure things out. Too much had been going wrong. He hated it, and he hated not acting like how everyone expected. Being an open downer wasn't his style. Instead, he had just taken to sleeping next to Hunk and waiting. Waiting and waiting and wondering what wouldn't be healed.

The sound of the pod releasing stirred Lance from slumber, and he jumped up to catch Hunk once he stumbled out and took a few shaky steps. The larger paladin groaned, a hand going to his head while he tried to get used to steady footing. Hunk paused, winced, and a faint shade of red started to pool into the fabric of his suit's right arm.

"The beige bodysuit doesn't really suit you, buddy." Were the first words Lance said once he pat Hunk on the back, pulling him into a tight hug. He buried his face into Hunk's shoulder to stop any sort of relieved tears from falling. He wasn't in perfect condition, but he was alive. And really, that's what mattered.

"And you look awful. When's the last time you showered?" Hunk's voice croaked, like he had still been choking on smoke and ash and fire while he lion went down. Lance didn't want to think about it, so he shoved those thoughts down and away into a tiny box.  He could handle comments on how his hair looked less than fluffy, how his face wasn't its usual smooth self, how the dark circles under his eyes looked like they weighed a ton. He hadn't gotten to take part in his usual beauty routines. Hunk had been more important. So much more important.

"More recently than Keith." Lance said, a grin plastered on his face. But the grin quickly fell to a look of guilt while he helped his friend to a chair. Hunk hadn't missed the expression shift. He never really missed anything when it came to Lance.

Hunk went to question Lance, but didn't get there when he grimaced at the pain radiating through his arm and the intense pressure in his skull that finally made itself known. He groaned and leaned back in the chair, eyes closed and expression painted in pain.

"The healing pods were damaged. So we've got to do it the old fashion way for a bit." Lance tried to explain, the sound of his voice catching once he noticed the slight stain of red on his hands. His fist clenches to hide the color, brow knit together as his breathing slowly steadied. "Thankfully… Thankfully we've got a few other space healing things to use."

"Please tell me it doesn't involve needles, because you know how I feel about needles." Hunk said, trying to inject a bit of humor into the situation. His eyes remained closed, although the soft sound of the med bay doors opening did help to ease his thoughts slightly.

"Hunk!" Pidge's voice broke through the air, her small feet slapping harshly against the floor while she ran and practically threw herself into Hunk's arms. She buried her face into his chest and gripped his clothes, all while muttering curses. Lance didn't let that stop him from wrapping his long arms around the both of them and initiating a group hug.

"You scared the hell out of us, man. Don't do that. Our trio can't go down to two." Lance muttered between the three of them, ignoring the sound of other voices growing closer. Shiro, Allura, Coran… Keith. He gripped Hunk and Pidge tighter. He just needed to block it out and enjoy the fact Hunk was okay, they were all okay. It was okay. _Everything would be okay._

"...ance… Lance." Allura's voice broke through Lance's thought once she tapped on his shoulder. He jumped, head raised to look into her sympathetic eyes. He frowned and looked back at Hunk. "Lance, you've got to let go so we can treat his wounds. It's alright now."

Let Hunk go? Lance didn't want to. He frowned and gripped Hunk tighter, only letting his grip falter once he felt a large hand pat him on the back and gentle encouragement from Hunk himself. A sigh left the blue paladin and he pulled back and away.

"Go take care of yourself, Lance. I'll be fine." Hunk grinned and gave a thumbs up, although the movement clearly caused him pain. Lance frowned, but took a deep breath and puffed himself up. Sulking wouldn't help anyone. He grinned back.

"Alright, alright. I leave him in your capable and _very_ beautiful hands, Princess. Maybe I should get hurt next time so you can cradle me in your arms and --"

"Lance." Shiro said in warning, causing the blue paladin to just laugh and toss his hands up.

"I'm going, I'm going." He shrugged and made plans to put a 'no fun allowed' sign on Shiro's bedroom door later. He really could go for a shower though. And a lot of other things. His skin felt dry and he hated it.

Lance avoided eye contact with Keith as he passed by the red paladin, but from the corner of his eye he did notice a strange expression on his face. Was Keith upset? Nah, couldn't be. He was a broody fucker, but why would he be upset about not having Lance talk to him? It made no sense.

 

* * *

 

It turned out they had to land the castle for all of the repairs. Between the busted thrusters, damaged medical bay, and every other problem that seemed to have cropped up, it hadn't exactly been the most glorious landing. Lucky for the paladins, their temporary resting place was home to a friendly species of alien that had yet to be conquered by the Galra.

Crius. A small jungle planet inhabited by what seemed to be bipedal digitigrade bird people. They were covered in multicolored feathers, and were even capable of limited flight thanks to the extended feathers on their arms. Or what looked like arms. Upper limbs that were used like hands and could hold things.

Lance wanted to make furry jokes, but ended up getting smacked over the head by Pidge when he even so much as tried. Something about being 'culturally insensitive'. But he was a child of the internet and did they really expected him to not have some sort of comment once they met something that looked like an earth animal? He knew a few kids from middle school that would have lost their shit if they knew bird people existed. Then again the Galra were pretty much cat-bat people weren't they? Man, he almost felt bad for the kids that had gotten made fun of back in the day.

Allura had said it would be insensitive to call them 'bird people' instead of Criuns, so Lance decided to just refer to them as birds in his head. About like he decided that Galra would be furry to make them seem less intimidating. Big purple furry catbats. Did they purr? Lance assumed they would purr. But he kept that to himself.

"Sooooo. How long are we gonna be here? And when exactly is the party to celebrate our amazing arrival for being protectors of the universe? I'm just saying, a party would be great." Lance's voice cut through the chatter among everyone else. They were planning to go visit the locals, to see about their culture and establishing a better connection. Allura had been ecstatic. Coran as well. Pidge wanted to check out how advanced their tech happened to be, and Hunk wanted to sample the local foods. Keith - who wasn't even there with everyone - just wanted to fight anything that moved (Lance assumed. Who knew what the mullet head actually wanted.).

And Lance himself? Well, he wasn't really feeling like going out into the humid jungle air. For a lot of reasons.

"No party, but we will be departing in about 30 ticks. Are you certain you don't want to come with us?" Allura went over a list of Altean characters Lance couldn't understand. He shrugged.

"You guys go on without me. I'll hold down the fort. Besides I've got things to do." Lance let out a yawn and stretched before getting up. He leaned to pop his back before grinning and shooting a double pistol and wink Allura's way. "Don't miss me too much, Princess."

"I'll certainly try." Allura said with a laugh, going over one last thing before closing the console down. "Make certain Hunk changes his bandages in two of your earth hours, and do try to keep the kitchen clean this time."

"No promises on that second one."

Allura laughed once again before setting out on her way while bidding Lance farewell. The soft _'swoosh'_ of the doors left Lance alone in the massive room. He flopped over on his couch and stared up at the ceiling, gaze barely focused on the natural light filtering in from the planet's sun.

Lance had never liked silence. At least, not when the castle felt so lonely. He grew up surrounded by people, by noise, by everything he thought would never change. He had mingled with cousin after cousin, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters. It made sense to rarely get a moment of privacy - so being in such a huge place alone just made his chest hurt. There could have been others that didn't go with Allura, but it didn't really matter. He was alone. It made him ache and curl into a ball on his side, cheek squished against the soft couch fabric.

Sunlight shifted shadows while Lance lay there, his eyes open and barely blinking. Time on different plants could have meant he sat there for only a few minutes or even hours. A sigh left his as he rolled over onto his back once again. He needed to do something. Just laying there wouldn't help.

"Computer. Or… AI. Castle of Lions Activate. Abracadabra. Is this thing on?" He spoke to the empty room, hoping voice activation would actually work. He had seen Allura control things with her special 'space elf magic' before, and Pidge by just using her voice - but he had never tried. When the lights of the room shifted, he knew it worked. Somehow.

"Uh. Activate star chart. Entire room projection." He didn't expect anything he said to work, but the windows began to tint themselves and the entire room turned a soft blue dotted with white marks for all the stars and system surrounding them. The star chart pulsed with movement, constantly moving and turning with the way the universe moved around itself.

He knew the universe was vast. He knew how far from home they were, but it didn't do anything to settle the dull ache that had been growing worse with every passing day, ever planet freed from the Galra Empire.

Did his family even know what happened? What had the Garrison said about them? His mom must have cried when she found out they were gone. He still remembered the last thing he said to her, but the sound of her voice, the soft smell of cinnamon and vanilla that wafted from her when they hugged, her reassuring touches, all of it had started to fade. His chest ached.

"Scroll to Earth. Sol System. You've seen it, you know where it is. Just... " Lance rubbed his eyes with the back of his hands and took a deep breath. "Moderate speed scroll."

The map began to shift and move, dragging across dozens of star systems and showing no signs of stopping. How many times had he done this exact same thing over the last year? Just wasting his time in the cool air, watching the map scroll more and more to try and reach Earth. But somehow it seemed longer, farther away than before. He felt like water was filling his lungs and making it hard to breathe again. It muffled sounds, the deafening silence choking him.

"It's weird to think how far we are, isn't it?"

Lance instantly sat up, a dark blush across his face. His hands moved to rub at his eyes, laughter bubbling from his lips. He'd be caught. Caught brooding. Like something the stupid mullet would do. His heart pounded, eyes wide and filled with panic - until he realized who actually caught him. Hunk. The panic subsided and melted into guilt.

Hunk looked worse for wear. His left arm was in a sling, bandaged up to his bicep, bandages wrapped around his head instead of the usual headband he wore, and no doubt other bandages and braces under the yellow pajamas he wore. He walked over towards Lance and set himself down close enough for their knees to touch.

"I mean, we're out here traveling from star system to star system using some magic wormhole technology, which wouldn't have ever been thought possible on Earth. It's like Schwarzschild wormholes just opened up and we're going into a blackhole to shoot us across the universe into an entirely different portion with crazy accuracy. I mean, we weren't even sure what happened with blackholes back on Earth and now we're going through all these things we didn't even know were possible and traveling to areas of the universe we didn't even know _existed_. Theoretically we should be ripped apart and --"

"Hunk. English."

"Oh, right. My bad."

"You scared me, buddy. You shouldn't be sneaking around like that. And Allura told me to change your bandages which I'm… going to assume should be now so park your happy ass there we're testing my first aid skills."

"Lance." Hunk looked at him and placed a hand on Lance's shoulder. "It's okay."

"What? What are you talking about, man? I'm just sitting here watching the stars. We need to fix those bandages and get everything taken care of. Can't slack off. I mean, sure I do sometimes, but I won't for this. I mean I can't be like Keith. Have you seen that guy? Psh. A try hard if I've ever seen one. And that hair, I mean look at him. He thinks he's so cool with his stupid hair and his being good at everything. And then he had to go and get you hurt and being an idiot and just… Just. Let's get you patched up, alright?" Lance trailed off, the playful expression on his face falling before he shook his head and was grinning again while reaching for the package of bandages Allura had left near the couch.

"Lance. Stop."

"Stop? I mean, have you seen me I can't exactly --"

"You need to talk to Keith."

Lance froze, like Hunk had poured ice cold water over his head.

"I'm serious, Lance. You really hurt his feelings, even if he won't admit it. And the last few months have been weird for all of us. Like, even Coran noticed something was wrong. You've been really focused on Keith more than normal. I mean, you have the whole rivals or whatever thing you keep wanting to happen, but a lot of the stuff you've been saying has just been… Mean. It's not like you, man. You two need to work out whatever issues you have."

Lance blinked and pulled back. "Wait, wait wait. You're saying _I'm_ the one being an asshole?"

"Yes, Lance. That's exactly what I'm saying."

"Wha-- How is-- It's his fault!"

Hunk raised a brow but didn't interrupt.

"He just keeps doing things to make me so mad!" Lance exclaimed and stood up, his arms arching wide. The star chart moved wildly with the sudden movement. "He thinks he's so cool with his dumb cut off jacket and fingerless gloves. He's always acting like I'm an idiot! And not to mention how he flaunts his relationship with Shiro constantly. Like, he knows that dude is my hero and yet he just loves to rub salt in the wound of how close they are. Like I'll never be good enough to get close to him or something."

"Wait, you think Keith is--" Hunk tried to interrupt, but Lance's voice quickly cut over him.

"And then, and then! And then the guy has the balls to make fun of the fact I miss home? All these planets are cool, but they don't have anything like my mom's home cooking, or my little sister's coloring all over my walls. It doesn't have to be like that. I just want to go home, but then he's just all… Duty, duty, duty. Like he's a freakin' robot or something."

"Did he actually make fun of you?" Hunk interjected before Lance could continue on.

"No, but he thought it! I could tell from the way he kept staring at me with this weird look on his face and how he kept looking away like I caught him with a hand in the cookie jar. With those stupid eyes of his and his angry red face that matched his stupid jacket."

"Uh huh."

"Then he's just an idiot and throws himself into danger out here like a fucking idiot!" Lance's voice rose an octave, feet stomping around the room while he continued his Keith fueled rant. "All we have each other out here, and he's just trying to be some stupid idiot hero! And then you got hurt because of him being an idiot!"

"It wasn't his fault, Lance. And it wasn't yours either. You know that."

"Well, yeah. But that doesn't mean he's not a dumb idiot hero complex loser. Who is he trying to impress? Why does he need to do that, that's _my job!_ Stupid mullet head could be as cool as he wants, but he's shoved so far up Shiro's ass that there's no time for him to pay attention to me! What about my needs, Hunk? I have a very set quota of attention I need and he is doing horrible providing for this family."

"So you're jealous he gives Shiro more attention?" Hunk casually asked, watching the stars continue to swirl through the air.

"Yes!" Lance yelled, hands through up in the air until he paused. His face began to burn bright red, a hand instantly going to cover the massive blush. "No, I mean no! That's not what I mean at all. What I mean is… I'm his rival, he should be going head to head with me like back in our academy days. But I'm _not_ jealous."

"Well that's good then. If you were jealous it would have explained why you're being mean to him like a little kid with a crush. I'm pretty sure Keith thinks you hate him." Hunk pushed himself up, with a bit of difficulty. He reached out to stop the map from spinning, a small knowing smile on his face. Lance, on the other hand, just looked at him in confusion.

"Why would I hate him? I mean, yeah I've said I hate him a lot but I don't actually hate the guy. If I actually hated him I wouldn't even talk to him." Lance paused, mouth opening and closing once he realized what he had said. "Oh. Oh, he thinks I hate him."

"That's what I said, yeah. You've been taking out your frustration on him. We've all noticed." Hunk kept fiddling with the chart while Lance began to pace and bounce on his toes.

Not even a moment later, Lance had turned and ran towards the door.  

"I've got to go and-- Oof!" Lance wasn't paying attention when the doors opened His body collided with something solid, sending him stumbling back and onto his ass. He winced and cursed, gaze trailing up to see what exactly he had hit. At first he just saw shoes, stupidly tall and gaudy in white and red. Then he saw tight ass black pants hugging thighs much too close…

And then he snapped his eyes up to find himself staring right at Keith. Lance noticed the redness of his face going up to his ears, the tense position, and exactly how close he had actually been to the door.

"Wait, Keith? The hell are you doing here? What did you hear?" Lance blanched, his throat constricting. Shit, had Keith heard him ranting and getting upset about missing home? Oh no. No no. "Keith. What did you hear?"

"I've got… Things. I gotta go." Keith barely choked out before turning tail and running down the hall.

"Keith? Keith! Hey, get back here you ass!" Lance jumped up from the floor and stumbled while he started to run after the red paladin, shouting his name the whole time.

Hunk stayed back, a soft expression on his face while he zoomed into a star system as Lance's voice echoed across the castle. He scanned the coordinates on the map and memorized them, also taking the time to save them into the ship's systems for later reference. He needed to talk to Shiro and Allura. But for the time, he moved back to the couch and settled down, his head falling back against the soft cushion when the echoes of Lance's voice finally began to fade.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im so sorry for the wait !! goodness it was a busy week for me. 
> 
> finally getting into more shippy things g bless g bless. I love these idiot boys so much.


	6. Salt Water

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pov swap for this chapter ! It's been Lance's pov up until now, so it'll be swapping to Keith's for a bit. I'll make a note on chapters when swaps happen so there's less confusion o7

"Keith! I said… Stop!"

Lance's voice echoed through the castle halls. A cold sweat formed on the back of Keith's neck at the sound, his eyes darting rapidly around the different routes he could take to escape the idiot. One one hand, he could rush to Shiro and hope he kept him hidden - but once Lance started talking he doubted Shiro wouldn't give him away. Much as he trusted the man, he was too nice for his own good sometimes. The moment Lance mentioned apologies, Shiro would turn him over. Traitor.

Keith cursed under his breath when he realized his pace had slowed and Lance was getting dangerously closer. Looking behind him and catching sight of messy brown hair and that dumb olive green jacket down the hall was enough to send his boots pounding against the floor in the direction of his room.

"Keith! Stop playing hard to get!" Lance yelled down the hall while they both ran past Pidge coming out of her room, nearly clipping her shoulders in the process. She stepped back and raised a brow once Lance ran past while shouting Keith's name, only shaking her head before closing the door again.

The flooring did little to help stop Keith, and he slid a few feet once close to his door before fleeing inside and slamming the door closed. His heart pounded, breathing heavy and back against the cold metal door he had most definitely locked.

He heard what sounded like someone slamming into a wall full force. Then a string of curses, followed by what he could only guess was Lance trying to act like nothing happened by his silence. Well, silence until he was back at Keith's door.

"Keiiiith. Come on, buddy. Let me in." Lance whined through the door. His knocked. Once. Twice. Three times. The tapping didn't stop, and it seemed to evolve into some sort of beat Keith couldn't identify. Probably one of the shitty pop tunes he liked to bother Pidge with, or something.

He kept silent while Lance continued to tap against the door. The idiot wouldn't leave from just being ignored. Keith knew that, but part of him hoped it might happen. He felt like enough of an idiot after hearing Lance loudly declare that - yes, he was jealous of Shiro - and the idiotic giddy feeling that bubbled in his chest.

Why exactly did he run once caught eavesdropping? Hunk had told him to stay and wait. Something about Lance needing a moment before they actually talked. Then he heard everything and ran like a coward once he saw Lance's face.

It had been happening more and more often when Lance was concerned. The weird bubbling feeling that made him simultaneously exhausted and excited. A smile that made his heart pound. A glance that made him want to linger and stare just a moment longer. Accidental hand brushes or how Lance never seemed to understand what personal space actually meant so their thighs ended up touching. Keith had noticed Lance always sat next to him. He noticed so many things he wished he hadn't noticed, because it meant feeling things that shouldn't be there.

Compared to Lance, Keith had the poker face of a pro. He hadn't spoken to anyone about the awkward feelings that bloomed in his chest. Which might have contributed to the clear communication issues that had sprung up in the past few months. But he had noticed a few knowing smiles, soft eyes. Like they knew something he didn't. Especially from Shiro. 

"Alright, fine. Door talk. Not my fault if you don't hear. Hunk can't say I didn't try." Lance spoke through the door, giving it a hard smack. The sound reverberated through Keith's small quarters and made him turn to face the door. It didn't take much to imagine Lance shaking his hand in pain from slapping a metal door. Keith sat on his knees, fists balled tight and a knot in his stomach. He waited.

"Look. Keith." Lance started, only to stop himself and sigh. Keith placed a hand on the door and he wondered what Lance thought he actually was doing. Although the temptation to kick his way out of the room and show up behind Lance kept growing.

"Keith, I'm sorry. I'm really, truly, madly, deeply sorry. I know you're probably pissed and that's why you don't even want to see my face. I totally get that, I'd hate my handsome face too. Or, well, it would depend on the day and situation, but that's not the point. What I'm getting at is… The other day I blamed you and said I didn't trust you. And that's not true." Lance sighed and Keith could hear the tiredness creeping into his voice. "The truth is, I actually trust you a lot? Like, you're really cool. Even if you've got a stupid mullet. You're cool and an awesome pilot. Better than I am. I look up to you in some weird way - god that sounds fucking stupid - and for some reason Hunk seems to think I'm jealous. Which I'm not, thank you very much. But I've been doing some dick things lately and it's not your fault, it's mine. I've had a lot on my mind and you're really good at invading my thoughts. So I guess I feel guilty. Or something."

The apology - if you could even call it that - was just so perfectly Lance. He sounded sincere enough. But the jealousy comment stood out, especially because it made Lance seem like he was jealous of _Keith._

For a moment Keith wished he hadn't locked the door between them just so he could see what expression Lance had. Especially in the silence that lasted only a few seconds before the idiot decided the moment had passed.

"The guilt might also be because I put food goo in your underwear drawer yesterday and you haven't noticed yet since you rarely ever shower, you gross shack hobo."

"You did what?!" Keith broke his silence and slammed his hand against the door sensor. It instantly opened and Lance fell onto his back from the sudden displacement of his backrest, head hitting the floor hard. He winced, but slowly looked up to see a furious expression from Keith. A grin twisted Lance's face, blue eyes bright and his shoulder shaking before the idiot burst.

"Your face!" Lance couldn't contain the laughter as he rolled onto his side, eyes closed and hands covering the lower half of his face. "You actually believed me!"

Red flooded Keith's cheeks. Oh no. He didn't need to notice the way Lance's hands looked, or how he wanted to touch them. How his eyes crinkled at the edge or the way his lips turned up. The slight pink tint his skin turned - so different from his usual flush even if the color looked the same. The small flash of tan skin while his shirt rode up. And Keith most certainly didn't need to notice the way his heart skipped a beat at the sound of Lance laughing. Because while Lance didn't hate Keith, he certainly didn't need to find out that he made someone's heart beat just a touch too fast.

So Keith swallowed down the feeling, took a deep breath, and shoved everything into a little mental box that should never see the light of day. For the team, for their friendship. Keith scowled to keep the grin off his face, to try and ignore the way Lance's chest would swell with each laugh.

"Because it's something you'd do!" Keith didn't _like_ like Lance, he couldn't. He was an idiot. Always cracking jokes that made no sense, always flirting with anything that moved. Always laughing too loud and grabbing the attention of everyone around. Always, always, _always looking a different way._

"I mean, yeah. But I didn't this time." Lance sat up, crossed his legs, grinned. He needed to stop with his face because Keith hated the way his cheekbones tugged and filled out with every smile.

"You asshole. Get out of my room." _Go. Leave._ Before it was too late. Keith pressed his foot against Lance's hip, barely putting any pressure to scoot the other out.

"You need a better underwear collection. I get being color coordinated, but only red and black boxers? Come on, man."

"What the hell is wrong with you?! Don't go through my stuff, Lance." Keith's voice cracked, the redness of his face getting worse. And there Lance was, laughing again.

"Dude, do you really only have red and black? I was just joking. Thanks for confirming though." Lance smirked, not reacting to the fact he had been pushed outside the room. He paused, face turning red to match Keith. "Not that I'm like. Thinking about your underwear or anything. That'd be weird as fuck. We're friends and - we are friends… Right?"

Keith looked at Lance, the dopey grin on his face and how his long legs crossed on the ground waiting for confirmation as if it would be the only thing to satisfy him. The door shut between them.

"Yes, we're friends you idiot." Keith said through the door once he heard Lance start to whine and tap on the door again. He swallowed the lump in his throat, hands trembling, palms sweaty. His knees felt weak. "Of course we're friends."

"Friends don't shut doors in friend's faces."

"Well, they do now." Keith paused and let out a small laugh before covering his mouth. Hopefully Lance didn't hear that. He really hoped he didn't hear it. The last thing any of them needed was Lance knowing his dumb antics actually excited Keith and made him happy.

Lance made him happy. Lance made him excited for the day, excited to see what idiotic thing he'd try to pull in the name of 'rivalry'. Excited to see his stupid grin and hear his dumb voice and wait for him to say something that started their constant bickering. He had sucked Keith into a useless cycle of constantly stopping himself from showing just how much he appreciated the company of someone so dumb.

Shit.

Shit shit shit. Keith had a crush on Lance. He couldn't deny it anymore. Not when a simple touch sent him spiraling into a disgusting puddle of gooey feelings he always had hated before. Not when he knew the real reason they couldn't form Voltron before had been because he wanted to keep his thoughts and feelings hidden away.

Heat flooded Keith's face, both hands dragging down and tugging at his hair in an attempt to knock himself out of it. He had only been standing there a few seconds since Lance last spoke, but it felt like the universe had stopped and whispered some horrible secret into his ears.

"Keith, are you laughing? Did I hear you laugh? Did I make you laugh?" Lance's voice grew in volume with each word, as well as the insistent knocking. Keith licked his lips and cut the sound from escaping his throat. Even with a solid door he knew Lance was smiling like he'd won some stupid prize for outdoing his 'rival'. And he hated the fact his own face had turned up into a smile at the thought.

"You're delusional." Keith said, although it felt softer on his lips than the usual insults. "Now leave me alone so I can get ready for training. Everyone will be back soon."

"Gonna stop being a dirty hobo? Get ready to show off?"

"Goodbye, Lance."

He didn't leave until after 15 minutes of silence.

 

* * *

 

When people went to a diplomatic meeting, gifts could be expected. Especially if the race had a long line of celebrations for damn near anything and everything. A walk to the training deck had never been quite so… colorful.

What Keith didn't expect were the ridiculous amount of flowers that flooded the castle halls. They were everywhere. Placed in oddly shaped vases in the ballroom, hung from lights and draped across stairs. He could barely walk three steps without coming face to face with a new species of flower he had never seen. The shapes were strange, some bioluminescent, others giving off the smell of burning wood or an ocean breeze. Salt water made him think of Lance.

Keith had noticed right away. The scent of the sea clinging to his skin, mixed with sweat and the lightest hint of oil. It had felt like someone lit a fire under his heels. He still didn't understand the whole 'rivals' thing Lance insisted on, but it kept them talking. It kept their proximity close, and Keith told himself day in and day out that friendship was enough. It had to be enough.

"Keith! Finally. I almost started a bet with Pidge if you'd show or not." Lance had shot a hand up the moment Keith entered the training deck, stripped of his usual coat. He sat cross legged on the floor, quickly turning his attention to the other paladins that had come back from their meeting.

Flowers were woven into crowns on all of their heads. It seemed the locals had even woven them for the three that stayed behind, because Hunk was sporting sunset colored flowers and Lance looked like he had an ocean falling from his hair. Keith noticed they were the same flowers he had seen before.  It took more willpower than he wanted to keep a slight blush down.

"It's the training deck, Lance. If Keith isn't here, then we've lost him in the vast expanse of space." Pidge adjusted her glasses and smirked before going to shift the flowers on her head so they sat correctly. Keith didn't really know much about color, but the light green did look nice on her.

Keith opened his mouth to protest, but Shiro beat him to the punch.

"He's just dedicated to the mission." Shiro said with a warm tone, a smile on his lips while he looked at Keith. He smiled back and looked away, a hand finding its way into the longer part of his hair. He looked away from the group and cleared his throat, hoping that Lance wouldn't comment. Thankfully, for once the blue paladin was silent.

"So, uh…" Keith shook the embarrassment off and looked back towards everyone, making a pointed effort to avoid actually making eye contract with Lance. "What are we doing here? This don't really seem like a training session."

"Oh, it's not." Pidge said without missing a beat, practically beaming at Lance.

"Coran. The bracelets." Allura looked to Coran, the older man directing his attention back from the light blue and yellow flowers in his hands to pull a small device from his pocket. He hummed while turning it over. The knowing looks on everyone's faces save for Lance only worried Keith as to what exactly they were planning. At least until Keith felt his wrist grow heavy and physically pull him closer to the group.

"What the hell?" Keith muttered. He looked down at the thick white metal wrapped around his right wrist and began to tug in an effort to remove it. But it didn't move, and the light blue lights only began to glow the longer it stayed connected. Then it hit him what exactly had been put on his wrist. The Altean version of handcuffs from when they had to feed each other.

"Uh. Allura? Babe. Beautiful. Light of my universe. What's going on?" Lance broke Keith's thought and confirmed what he feared. They were the only two connected and everyone seemed to have a shit-eating grin on their faces. Even Hunk had that look and he hadn't left the ship. Which meant they had planned this for a while. Shit.

"You two are on isolation training until further notice. You will be together, no matter the place or time for the next 30 solar cycles, or longer depending on how everything goes. Until those come off, you will be working together and resolving whatever issues that have cropped up over the last few weeks. The two of you are the cause for Voltron being unable to form and that is a threat to the entire universe. I will not stand by and allow you to endanger our mission because of some petty rivalry. You are a team. Start acting like it."

Allura meant business. Keith swallowed the lump in her throat while she continued, pulling his wrist in vain.

"The only time the distance restrictions will be lifted is during the time inside your lions and when an active threat to your life is detected. Do not think for a moment you can simply fly off to escape this either. The two of you are being punished for your petty and antagonistic behavior towards one and other."

"Antagonistic? What… He's the one that starts it!" Keith protested loudly. He pointed at Lance, who only place a hand to his chest in mock offense.

"Keith. I'm offended. You shut the door in my face."

"Because you wouldn't leave me alone!"

"Well it's your fault for ignoring me."

"Why are you like this?"

Allura sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Clearly this training is desperately needed."

"You two get to be like a pair of yelmors. Looking out for the other to survive. Only instead of mating and creating a pack, you're doing the surviving each other part. Exciting." Coran said while tugging on his ears, a clear look of excitement on his face.

"Coran, we still don't know what yelmors are. You know that, right?" Pidge raised a brow and shrugged. "Anyway, I'm out. I just wanted to see their reactions. Come on Hunk."

"Traitor." Lance hissed in their direction, to which Hunk just laughed and wished them good luck.

"Shiro, come on. Did you agree to this?" Keith felt himself growing defeated the more he pulled against his restraint. He just wanted to train, was that such a bad thing? It wasn't his fault Lance acted like an idiot.

"It's for your own good. The both of you." Shiro looked to Allura, both of them nodding together in agreeance.

"Okay, wait wait wait. This is ridiculous. We can't wear these." Lance finally spoke up again, making a wide motion towards the bracelet.

"Yes. Thank you, Lance."

"Unlike mullet over there I'm not ambidextrous so can this at least be swapped to my right hand instead. I like to keep my left free for reasons."

"Yeah! He likes to… Wait what."

"You're stuck with me, buddy. Through thick and thin. In showers and in bed. Do you prefer big spoon or little spoon? I'm guessing you're more of a knife guy."

"It's a dagger." Keith watched Lance roll his eyes. Had he been making one of his dumb jokes again? It was literally a dagger, a knife was different.

"Riiiiight. Anyway, point being." Lance turned back to Allura, Coran, and Shiro while holding his wrist out. "Swap for us?" He flashed an innocent grin, which only made Keith skeptical. That smile never spelled good things with Lance. But Coran fell for it, and the moment their bracelets vanished from existence Lance had taken it upon himself to turn tail and try to run from the room before it could be reactivated.

Unfortunately, technology didn't really care.

The bracelets reactivated and made Lance stop in his tracks, the sudden shift in momentum from their connected arms sending Keith flying towards Lance. The two tumbled together, arms and legs flying as they fell to the ground and slammed down.

Keith groaned and pushed himself up, barely noticing the heat below him until he opened his eyes to see a bright red faced Lance under him. His own face turned red, but he didn't move. All he could do was let his eyes wander over the light dusting of freckles on Lance's nose. His smelled of burning wood and salt water, and it made his chest tighten.

"Good luck, boys. Have fun." Allura called to them while waving and leaving Keith and Lance alone.

Lance couldn't ehar how loud his heart was beating, right? The sound muffled out most sound, and he barely even noticed the fact that everyone else had left the two of them laying on the ground together - and the fact he hadn't made a move to get off Lance at all.

"Um, Keith? Are you going to move or are you that into me?" Lance gave a nervous laugh and glanced away, a hand going to cover his mouth while he coughed. His usual flirting not missing a beat.

"Right! Shit. Sorry." He pushed off Lance and turned away from him, the scent of salt water clinging to his skull and making everything seem so fuzzy. They were stuck together, literally, for at least a month.

Keith swallowed and let himself glance over at Lance while he also say up, the redness of his face still there as he picked the flower crown back up and turned it over in his hands. The look on his face just spelled deep thought, which was weird considering it was Lance and not someone else.

Their eyes met when Lance realized Keith was staring.

"So." Lance sighed and scratched his head and tugged his wrist away, only to end up having the connection light appeared. They'd need to figure out distance. Hopefully it wouldn't be too short. Keith didn't think he could survive being that close all the time. He was already having a hard time keeping a straight face.

"You never answered before."

Keith raised a brow and looked at Lance. "Answered what?"

"Big spoon or little spoon?"

It was going to be a long month.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Usually I'd stick with Lance POV more than Keith, but I wanted to really highlight how they're both pining idiots - and how long Keith has liked Lance. Hopefully it came through alright!
> 
> Thank you all so much for the comments, hits, and kudos ;v; they mean so much aaaa.


	7. Dead Sea

"No."

"Come on Keith, where's your sense of adventure?"

"I said no."

"That's cool and all, but we're literally stuck together."

"I'm not showering with you."

"And I'm not going without a shower. How often do you even shower?"

"Twice."

"A day?"

"A month."

Lance instantly recoiled, hand on his chest as if he had heard the most offensive words spoken in his life. He was the one that called Keith a smelly hobo before, so it only made sense to live up to that expectation. Even if Keith could only see the expression out the corner of his eye, it took a lot to stop a grin from cracking on his face. He rarely had jokes, which made the flat delivery even better. Especially when he cause a flash of Hunk and Pidge fighting back laughter as Lance groaned.

"No. No, absolutely not. Allura, please. Have mercy on me. I can't live with this dirty little gremlin."

Allura looked up from a small galaxy map and at the two boys seated next to each other. Lance had spread himself out as much as possible, leaving Keith practically smashed into the corner of the couch while he fiddled with his dagger and turned it over as an idle action. Even without looking up, Keith knew exactly the look she would have shot Lance, and the sounds of the galaxy map moving just confirmed she ignored his request. Well, so did her words.

"Lance, as I said before. This is punishment. The two of you must learn to work together. Which _means_ the both of you must sacrifice for the other." Her voice held the usual commanding tone that always made Lance shrink and whine when he didn't get his way.

"Yeah, Lance. No more sleeping until noon for your 'beauty days'. Keith is always up at 6am on the training deck." Pidge could barely contain her snickering, doing her best to disguise it by humming and going back to checking on signals. Hunk glanced over her shoulder and pointed out a particular frequency to gain her attention. He had made a point to sit next to her instead of by Lance, and Keith wasn't sure if he did it because Lance needed to learn a lesson or just to avoid being pulled into bullshit.

"Hunk. Buddy. My main man." Lance quickly gave up on Allura and shifted to Hunk. Well, that answered Keith's question on his placement quickly enough.

"I'm not helping you break the cuffs."

"Huuuuuuunk."

"Dude. Allura is right there. And she's not exactly giving you a good look." Hunk shrugged his shoulders, the one wrapped up barely moving. "Why not talk to the person you're stuck with instead? Who's sitting right next to you. Or did you forget all about Keith?"

Keith stopped turning the dagger and raised his head, looking at Lance like he expected… Something. He wasn't even sure what to expect. Not from that clear pout on Lance's face, or the way his nose wrinkled and lips parted when he huffed. He honestly believed Keith only showered twice a month. Keith wasn't sure what was worse - the fact Lance believed him, or the fact he seemed to have almost accepted he'd be unable to bathe often at all.

"I was kidding, Lance." Keith said, face neutral for a moment until he couldn't hold the smile back any longer. The indignant look had found its way back onto Lance's face - more than likely from disbelief that Keith could make jokes. "Allura does have a point, though. We need to work as a team. Which means--"

"But Kei--" Keith put a hand over Lance's mouth before he could interrupt and shot a pointed look.

"Which means compromise. I'll do what you want. But you also have to do what I want." He slowly pulled the hand over Lance's mouth back, patiently waiting for a reaction. It didn't take long.

"Are you asking for a training montage?" Lance sighed, groaned, hands tossed into the air while he flopped backwards over the couch. His shirt pulled up, a sliver of skin showing the curve of his hip and how it dipped. His usual tan skin had a slight purplish tint, blotchy and ragged, edges yellowed. A bruise? Keith snapped his gaze up after too long of a moment, knowing damn well he had been caught by the smirk on Pidge's face. Staring wouldn't do him any good, or anyone else for that matter.

"We can do whatever you want afterwards." Keith quickly added, knowing full well Lance would protest otherwise.

"Anything, huh?" Lance raised a brow, the cocky grin he usually wore while shamelessly hitting on people turned towards Keith for the first time he could remember. He had seen the look directed towards Allura, countless aliens they met, and even Lance himself the few times he had been caught looking in a mirror. But Keith had never seen it flashed his way and it made his hand sweat, his heart pound, his throat close when he thought that maybe - just maybe… _Lance looked at him._ But it was a silly thought, a dumb thought, just because he had 'the look' didn't mean anything. He wasn't serious, he rarely ever was actually serious.

"We're a team. Sacrifices and all that." Keith scoffed, shrugged. He turned away and felt a slight rising of heat hit his cheeks. Shit. He accidentally made the mistake of locking eyes with Pidge, whose grin could only be described as 'shit eating'. At least that was how Lance had described it before. Either way, she couldn't stop grinning at Keith, light catching on her glasses just enough to hide half of her expression.

"Don't forget you said that, pretty boy." Lance's voice made Keith nearly jump out of his skin from how close he had gotten in the small time frame. He felt the breath on his neck, hair standing on end as a gloved hand slapped up to cover his ear while he recoiled in shock. Keith had physically moved without realizing it, practically falling off the edge of the couch to put distance between himself and the way Lance leaned over into his space with no regards for personal space whatsoever.

"What… What are you…" Keith sputtered, unable to form any sort of coherent thought while he looked straight into the idiot's eyes. He could see the grin creeping up on Lance's face, see the way his face had a slight dusting of pink. Keith's gaze darted down towards Lance's hands, saw how close they were, and then his eyes moved back up once again to meet the dark blue color he had grown so fond of. They were so close, the proximity had Keith confused and embarrassed, and any other number of emotions he couldn't quite place. It didn't help Lance seemed to have no intention of moving away.

"Lance." Shiro's voice broke the tension, making the blue paladin snap up and away from Keith with his hands up as if he had been caught doing something bad.  Keith hadn't even realized his own hands had gone out to shove Lance away until after he came back down from his thoughts to see Shiro standing in the doorframe with a towel around his neck and decked out in full paladin armor.

' _Good timing, Shiro.'_ Keith had the thought repeating over and over again. He wasn't even sure what might have happened if someone hadn't spoken up. Did no one else find it odd that Lance had gotten so close? And if they had been alone...

"Shiro, you have the worst timing." Lance complained with a sigh, shifting to rest his head on a balled fist. His expression had gone back to a pout, leg crossed over to tap in clear annoyance.

"For once I agree with Lance. Things were just getting interesting." Pidge hadn't taken her eyes off Keith, even when everyone else had turned to look at Shiro. Keith knew everyone was talking - or at least Lance - but he couldn't pick up the words while the two of them had a stare off.  His scowl only made her grin wider, and her growing grin only made him scowl deeper. And it wasn't like he could talk to her, not while chained to Lance.

"I don't really think Keith being uncomfortable is exactly something to call interesting." Shiro saying Keith's name brought him back to the conversation, eyes snapping over towards the man and trying to push the scowl off his face. "Just because Hunk is hurt doesn't mean the rest of us can slack off for training. We can't form Voltron right now but that doesn't mean we can let hand to hand slack off. Come on, cadets. On your feet and to the training deck."

"But we were just theeeeere." Lance whined. "Can't we have a day off. Just one. To save our poor young bodies. We're not all like you, Shiro. With the lush locks and galloping abs. Actually. Has anyone even see Shiro shirtless? Is this something we don't get to be graced with. I'm sure they're killer. I mean, his arms are thicker than my thighs. Do you guys see this? Look at him."

Lance had sat up and thrown both arms out towards Shiro to get everyone to look. Keith had long since realized he went on the little rants to distract others and make it easier to get his way.

"A noodle is thicker than your thighs, Lance. And don't bring up your flat ass, we all know about it." Pidge closed her laptop, nearly catching Hunk's finger while he tried to poke at something on the screen.

"Pidge. Language. Everyone up. We owe it to Allura to actually work ourselves hard." Shiro said, arms crossed over his chest. His eyes darted over towards Allura and a smile tugged at the edge of his expression when their eyes met. Even if he tried to deny it, the obvious blush on his face just showed he hadn't changed much even after being captured by the Galra. He never had been good at taking compliments.

The situation dissolved, the loud groans of Pidge and Lance bouncing off the walls. Keith wasted no time to get to his feet, temporarily forgetting the restraints until he felt his wrist pull backwards and stop him from moving. His eyes narrowed while looking back towards Lance, the blue light connecting them looking to hit about 3 meters for total acceptable distance in a normal situation. Which wasn't much to work with at all.

"Lance, get up." Keith sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose while Pidge and Hunk walked past to follow Shiro. A heavy hand fell on his shoulder and made him look up, the smile Hunk offered enough to put his mind at ease for a moment.

"Just relax, man. It'll work out." Hunk said with a warm voice, his hand squeezing Keith's shoulder before he let it drop and continued on his way.

"I hope so." A sigh bubbled past Keith's lips when Lance finally stood up, taking his time to stretch and crack his neck. Keith cringed at the sound. He never really liked it, and Lance did it more often than he wanted to think about. But sacrifices had to be made, he knew that.

"You comin'?" Lance had already walked past Keith, but he stopped before the restraint reached max length. "Not like you to lag behind everyone else."

"Yeah. Just a lot on my mind." Keith said with a sigh and a ruffle of his hair, heels hitting the ground hard while he followed a few steps behind Lance. The silence while they walked made things a bit easier to process and help calm down the feelings from before. But good things never lasted, especially not when chained to a motor mouth.

"I don't hate you, Keith."

Keith raised a brow and turned his attention towards Lance. He had somehow kept his eyes straight even when talking. It wasn't like him. A small frown found its way onto Keith face as he stared at Lance's profile and his eyes wandered over long lashes, a sharp nose, and high cheekbones. Lance was pretty. Keith had noticed for quite a while, even if he was the one nicknamed 'pretty boy'.

"I don't hate you either? Where did that even come from?"

"Just wanted you to know."

"Uh… Okay?" He didn't really get it, but for some reason he noticed Lance had started to smile like he had made some happy discovery that Keith wasn't allowed to know. It was good, right? That Lance didn't hate him and they were getting closer. Or, well, it would help with the fact they happened to be stuck together for an entire month. "That doesn't mean I'm going easy on you."

"You're really good at ruining the moment, Keith."

"Moment? What moment--" But Keith wasn't able to finish as the doors to the training desk swooshed open.

Bright lights flooded the hallway, washing Keith's vision out for a moment while entering and taking in the surroundings. Rubber and chalk, disinfectant, it made him feel comfortable. Much easier to deal with than the scent of the sea flooding his senses and making everything muddy. He inhaled and closed his eyes for a moment, letting the excitement for a fight roll off his back in waves. He had practically forgotten being stuck to Lance while walking across the room towards the lockers where spare paladin armor was kept specifically for training exercises. The weight of armor made him feel like something mattered, reminded him that they were all part of something bigger than themselves and that eyes were always watching to see them succeed - or fail.

Most people hated the pressure, but coming out on top and being praised for hitting points flawlessly was one of the few times Keith felt most comfortable. He had grown used to the putting his armor on and adjusting it, the motion second nature after so much time. His fingers flexed, tightened. Total concentration and ready for whatever life could throw.

"Do you ever think about how tight these suits are?"

Or not.

"Not really, no." Well now he was going to think about it. Keith sighed and looked over towards Lance in time to see him struggling to pull the chest armor over his head. Had he gotten taller? Or maybe his ego had taken physical form and swollen his head. Without asking, he reached out and grabbed the bottom of Lance's chest piece. A swift tug had it over his head and sitting correctly.

"Thanks, buddy."

"Uh huh." Keith looked  away after helping, making a point to not actually _observe_ how tight the suits were under the armor. He had to focus on the task at hand. He had a goal, and that was to practice and grow stronger. No tight suits or how they looked were going to get in the way of that. "Now hurry up. The others are waiting."

 

* * *

 

Training went off without a hitch, and somehow Keith had been able to keep his focus by sparring with Shiro instead of being near Lance. Allura had been kind enough to loosen the distance for their restraints after they paired off, especially the first time Shiro had thrown him nearly across the room when he let his concentration slip for a moment after catching a glance of Lance gesturing at the two of them towards Hunk.

In the end, Keith had gotten hold of Shiro from below. His arms wrapped around the black paladin, a yell echoed while his adrenaline pumped and he picked the larger man up before twisting and slamming him into the ground. A foot landed between Shiro's legs, the other by his hip when Keith realized he had actually toppled the biggest wall he had fought against. Even as he stepped back and held his hand out for Shiro to take, he couldn't stop the grin that had found it's way onto his face and didn't seem to be going away anytime soon.

"Nice job, Keith. You've done nothing but improve. I'm proud of you." Shiro said while taking Keith's hand and pushing himself up, his own smile reflecting the red paladin's. His prosthetic hand went into Keith's hair, a quick and rough ruffle enough to make Keith's face flush in accomplishment.

"Thanks, Shiro. I've got a great teacher." He replied in a soft voice, both hands going to grab the one off his head and pull it off. The two of them continued to grin and share a silent moment of pride between the other - until Keith felt a hand roughly tug his shoulder and pull him back into reality.

"Alright, alright. Enough of that. It's my turn now." Lance moved behind Keith and began to push him towards the lockers.

"Lance, what the hell?" Keith frowned and planted his heels on the ground to stop himself from moving, turning just in time to see Lance making a weird gesture with two fingers from his eyes to Shiro and back again. From the look on Shiro's face, he barely seemed to be holding back laughter when Lance turned back towards Keith and took hold of his wrist to tug him along.

"We did the training thing, so now it's my turn to decide what we have to do. Meaning showers. You're not going to be gross when we go to bed." Lance didn't stop dragging Keith while he spoke and chattered, going on about how Keith needed to condition his hair and have a deep body scrub, but he certainly wouldn't be the one doing it.

"We have to share a room." The realization finally hit Keith. His face burned, a hand darting to cover his face while he groaned in annoyance. Sleeping in the same room? Could they day get any worse?

"My room, my room!" Lance didn't even hesitate, his hand shooting up into the air while he turned and tugged Keith along. He lurched forward from the sudden movement and found himself quickly in step, the hand still covering his face.

"Why do we have to--"

"Nope. No questions. You said we'd do what I wanted after training montage, and we're going to my room and playing around." Lance's voice held no malice as they finally entered the lockers. "Now clean yourself. You're covered in sweat and my bed is _not_ going to get that filthy. So go." Lance shooed Keith towards one of the shower stalls, wasting no time to get into his own.

A sigh left him as he complied and turned on the water, steam quickly filling his vision. He showered off the grime of the day, blunt nails scratching vigorously at his scalp. He rarely took longer than 5 minutes, but he knew Lance could end up taking well over 30. And that was before he started singing.

The water came to a stop, and he stepped towards the clothing shoot, a soft and warm towel dropping down along with clothing for the night. He had never really thought about the type of conveniences an advance space castle ship would have, but getting quick clothing after a shower certainly ranked high on the 'frivolous yet useful' list.

"Lance, are you nearly done?" Keith had already dressed and towel dried his hair, wrist tugging hard to get the blue paladin's attention. His other hand adjusted the collar on his clothing, unsure how he felt about the matching pajamas. They were comfortable enough, but the fact the castle knew to toss down red clothing for Keith felt a bit odd.

"Calm down, mullet. I'm not going anywhere." Lance stopped humming, and Keith could hear him turn the water off. His mind wandered at the rustle of fabric to the bruise he had seen earlier, and then it drifted further than he wanted. Red flooded his face, and he had to press his forehead to the cold divider until he felt a tug on his wrist. Keith followed without a comment, trying to keep his thoughts at bay.

It didn't take much to head towards the sleeping quarters, their stride matched. And for once, Keith broke the silence.

"So what exactly are you… planning to do?" He questioned with a raised brow once they reached Lance's door. It slid open, and the scent of smoke and salt water washed over him, causing an uncomfortable feeling to build in the pit of his stomach.

"Pre-bed ritual. But for two." Lance didn't even miss a beat as he sat Keith down on the floor and walked into his personal bathroom, gathered an armful of items, and came back to plop down next to the confused paladin.

Lance started to hum to himself as he grabbed one container and twisted the top off. A hand reached out to grab Keith's face, and he quickly recoiled.

"What are you doing?" Keith practically hissed, his hands going up to swat Lance away when he tried to grab again.

"Like I said, pre-bed ritual. I'm not going to hurt you, so relax for two seconds. Trust me, alright?" Lance stared directly at Keith, his blue eyes stedfast as they stared until Keith sighed and scooted closer.

A smile lit up across Lance's face and it made Keith's heart melt. He hated those smiles the most, the genuine ones. It made him want to eat out of Lance's hands, and he didn't protest while Lance pushed his hair out of the way with a plastic hairband.

"So what do you do before sleep?"

"Uh… Meditate or listen to music mostly."

"Meditation? Really? I thought you were too punchy for that." Lance didn't miss a beat as his hand went out to spread dark grey goop onto Keith's face. His skin stretched and pulled with each movement of the hand on his face, and he wondered if his skin might just be ripped off from how sticky it felt.

"It helps me think about the day. What is this stuff anyway?" Keith wrinkled his nose and went to touch his face, the hand instantly being slapped away by Lance. "What the hell, why'd you hit me?"

"Don't touch it. You've got oils all over your fingers."

"You're literally touching me."

"Yes, but my hands are clean."

"They're covered in whatever this gross goop is." Keith frowned, brow knit together while Lance's hand went out the smooth the wrinkles and spread more of the mixture over his forehead, before moving down towards his nose.

"It's a dead sea mud mask. It's good for keeping your pores clear and helping to reduce oil and shine. Which _someone_ I know needs. Natural beauty will only take you so far, Keith. I use this at least once a week to keep myself looking flawless, which as you can tell, clearly works. Now hold still I'm nearly finished." Lance pulled his face closer, concentrating on how he applied the mask down Keith's jawline. His hand stopped moving the mixture once reaching Keith's chin, holding it there for a moment to look over his work.

Keith felt his heart speed up again, and he cursed their punishment and Shiro for agreeing to it.

Keith had been trying to hold his breath and not breathe in whatever it was Lance had decided to put on his face, but the sudden rush of salt water flooded his senses.  The smell made his heart pound and he'd never been more thankful to have something gross and grey covering his face.

"So that's why you smell like the ocean." The words fell from his mouth, and left Keith completely unaware he had actually said it outloud. He stared at Lance's eyes as they began to grow wider, a slight dusting of red going over his freckled cheeks slow enough that it seemed to be like a fire spreading across a dry field.

Lance dropped his hand away from Keith and physically turned to the left, the mud covered hand quickly dragging over his own cheeks. Skilled hands made quick work of the mask and soon enough Lance had turned back towards Keith with an equally grey face.

"Now. Let's see how beautiful we look." Lance broke the silence by reaching over him and grabbing a mirror off off the ground before he wrapped an arm around Keith's shoulder. The hand mirror held at arm's length was barely enough for both of them to be seen, so Keith scooted closer to Lance until their cheeks were practically touching.

Both boys stared at the mirror before looking away and then at each other simultaneously. Keith cleared his throat to fight off a laugh, Lance bit his lip to hold off the sound. Both of their masks began to crack slightly while the shared grin between them grew. It didn't help that Lance had insisted on color coded headbands to hold their fringe back so it wouldn't get dirty.

"We look ridiculous." Keith's voice was low, laughter rumbling in his throat as he leaned a bit closer to Lance. He still smelled of smoke and the sea, and Keith had never been more grateful for the fact he loved fire and warmth and everything associated with it.

"Excuse me, we're beauty in the making." Lance corrected, his head tilted slightly so their heads rested against each other. The mirror stayed out between them, their words drifting away into silence.

Neither of them moved. Neither of them said a word. Lance's arm slowly started to drift down from the strain, their chained hands moving closer together until just the pinkie finger crossed over each other. Keith swallowed, terrified to move, a feeling he hated more than most anything else. He didn't get close to people, especially not close to _Lance._ But he couldn't push him away, couldn't say a word. His lips parted to try and speak, only to feel like his throat had been filled with sand. His mouth closed into a tight line. The smell of salt water was getting to him.

"We should uh… Probably go to bed soon." Keith pulled back, reluctantly losing the warmth from being so close to Lance and glancing to the side. He heard a nervous laugh come from the other, but he didn't want to look.

"Right, shit. It's late. Uh, go wash your face. I'll get the bed ready." Lance pushed himself off the ground, pointing towards the bathroom before he started to smooth out the sheets over and over.

"It's okay. I can sleep on the floor." Keith followed suit and got up, a hand going to pick at the long hair on the base of his neck. He cleared his throat and took a step towards the bathroom and watched Lance stop and turn towards him. He almost looked upset? Confused. Keith couldn't tell for once, and it bothered him.

"Right, floor. I've got an extra blanket. I'll get that."

Keith nodded and cleared his throat before closing the bathroom door, the tug on his wrist going unnoticed as he turned the sink on and quickly splashed cold water over his face. He scrubbed, skin turning red while he washed away the smell of salt water. What had he been thinking? He wasn't thinking, it was that simple. A sigh left him as he turned the hot water on full blast and scrubbed again, making sure to get every bit of mud off his skin before he leaned against the closed door and stared into the mirror.

His face was flushed, and he could barely shake the smile on his face when he thought back to how close they had been. His throat closed up, a hand running over his face when he tried to calm himself down. It was just a crush, he was fine. Nothing to worry about. Keith took a deep breath to steady himself and removed the headband, once again breathing deep before he opened the door and stepped out.

"Thanks for letting me use the sink. The mask whatever it is didn't feel half bad." Keith said in a neutral tone, much more composed than he expected. He stepped over the mess on the floor towards the area next to the bed, a blanket and pillow already folded up for him.

"No problem, man. And that was just day one." Lance gave a crooked grin as he gathered up the items on the floor and made his way towards the bathroom with them. "Tomorrow will be even better."

"Are you going to put more mud on my face?"

"Maybe. You'll have to wait and see, mullet man. Where's your sense of adventure?"

Keith couldn't help but the crack a small grin as Lance repeated what he had said earlier in the day, a dusting of pink covering his cheeks and forcing him to look away. He even if they lights were dimmed, he didn't want Lance to see. At all.

"We'll find out tomorrow." Keith replied just as Lance closed the bathroom door behind him. His heart still felt like it was going to burst out of his chest, and the warmth from before only grew worse as he spread out the blanket and settled down onto the floor. He stayed on his back and stared up at the ceiling for who knows long, the scent of salt water slowly growing on him and becoming a comfortable feeling.

His breathing steadied, eyelids heavy, and his consciousness slipped before Lance even came back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAA IM LATE. This chapter came out of nowhere and all of my plans were blown away omg.  
> I had a lot of fun writing it, but gosh! My outline failed me, damn these cute idiots. 
> 
> again, thank you all for the comments and kudos they mean so much sobs ( ˃̣̣̥ω˂̣̣̥ )  
> im honestly just very shy and never know what to say back but i do appreciate them all so much you guys are the b e st <333


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